Blog.

January 2006

New & Upcoming Formats

Atom Syndication Format 1.0

I think I am a little behind the times on this one, but I just updated my Atom Syndication Feed to Atom 1.0. There are quite a few changes between 0.3 and 1.0. There is a good article that helps with this change and, of course, the documentation of the format.

Code example

Here is what the entry for this web log entry looks like, minus the link domain and ID tag.

<entry>
 <id>tag:[tag]</id>
 <title>New and Upcoming Formats</title>
 <summary>
  Atom 1.0 and other new formats.
 </summary>
 <category term="development"/>
 <published>2006-01-13T17:30:00Z</published>
 <updated>2006-01-13T11:30:00-06:00</updated>
 <link rel="alternate"
       type="application/xhtml+xml"
       href="[domain]/matt/find/?20060113"/>
</entry>

Atom 1.0-related resources

For the various specifics to this format, visit these resources:

Office “12” XML File Formats

Reading through the latest issue of PC World, I found some interesting and exciting news about the new file formats Microsoft will be using in the next version of Office.

… When I saved an unchanged Word 2003 file as a .docx file, it was less than half of its previous size. And since Office XML formats are based on both XML and Zip formats, they should be more universally accessible to other applications …

Zipped Components

Because each Office XML file is actually a zipped collection of component files (text lives in one component, style attributes exist in another, reviewer comments are in a third, and so on), you can easily alter these attributes by changing the Office XML extension to .zip, opening the file using any unzipping utility, and removing or substituting component files. For example, you could quickly swap in a new style subfile (created by programmers, or simply copied over from another Office XML document) without making changes to the text.

PC World, February 2006 (pg. 23).

With this I needed to check things out from Microsoft itself. And, from what I did find, the potential these new formats provide seems astonishing. A document created by Microsoft Office is, in a way, open source and it has the possibility to be opened, edited and saved in the same format by any other business software suite. Developers and other coders will be able to edit a document by hand, and designers could instantly update files with new styles.

Imagine this

A company has been working on documentation for a slew of upcoming projects. However, in that time the company changes its logo and styles, which will need to be updated in the documents. A large selection of documents must be changed. This could take forever, that is, if these documents are the current Office format. Now, look at the situation with Office “12” and these new formats. All someone need do is drop in a new templated style into each document and the update is finished. Wow. This has serious promise to making massive, complex changes simple.

But, of course, this is all still in beta. So, patience as we must wait for the final product.

More information from Microsoft

Posted: 13 January 2006, Matthew Schlukebier. | .

Master Pages

Site-wide templates that work

For years I have been developing my own methods of controlling the user interface of my web sites. My most recent attempt was that of the Core 1.0 for Matthew Orion Web Services. (The Core 1.0 is a set of include files and ASP.NET 1.1 user controls that manage the header, navigation and footers of the site and which provide various generic functions and variables making form functions and database access much simpler.)

Now, Microsoft has finally integrated something even more powerful into the latest version of ASP.NET (2.0) and into their Visual Studio (2005) — the master page. The master page provides you with a simple way to manage the user interface of most to all of your site.

From DevX:

ASP.NET 2.0 introduces a new concept known as Master Pages, in which you create a common base master file that provides a consistent layout for multiple pages in your application. To create a Master Page, you identify common appearance and behavior factors for the pages in your application, and move those to a master page. In the master page, you add placeholders called ContentPlaceHolders where the content (child) pages will insert their custom content. When users request the content pages, ASP.NET merges the output of the content pages with the output of the master page, resulting in a page that combines the master page layout with the output of the content page.

From the .NET Framework SDK:

Just as Themes and Skins allow you to factor out style definitions from your page code and maintain them in a common file, Master Pages do the same for page layout. A Master Page is a page that contains markup and controls that should be shared across multiple pages in your site. For example, if all of your pages should have the same header and footer banners or the same navigation menu, you could define this in a Master Page once, and then all pages associated to this Master Page would inherit those common elements. The advantage of defining the header, footer, and navigation in a Master Page is that these elements need only be defined once, instead of multiple times in duplicate code across the pages in your site.

After just my initial run through of this new concept, I must say I hope to study it more in the coming months and I look forward to using it on the next version of the Buca di Beppo web site (coming this summer).

Resources

For more information on this subject, follow any of these links:

Posted: 10 January 2006, Matthew Schlukebier. | .

Kind of cool…

Now, how often do you get a nameplate like that on your cubicle?

Cool.

Buca, Inc. cubicle nameplate
(Photo taken by a cell phone camera)

Posted: 10 January 2006, Matthew Schlukebier. | .

Good Advice

Yup, it came from an e-mail forward, but it is still worthwhile.

  1. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
  2. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
  3. Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
  4. When you say, “I love you”, mean it.
  5. When you say, “I’m sorry”, look the person in the eye.
  6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
  7. Believe in love at first sight.
  8. Never laugh at anyone’s dream. People who don’t have dreams don’t have much.
  9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.
  10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.
  11. Don’t judge people by their relatives.
  12. Talk slowly but think quickly.
  13. When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and ask, “Why do you want to know?”
  14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
  15. Say “bless you” when you hear someone sneeze.
  16. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
  17. Remember the three R’s: Respect for self; Respect for others; and responsibility for all your actions.
  18. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
  19. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
  20. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
  21. Spend some time alone.

Posted: 04 January 2006, Matthew Schlukebier. | .

6 Things

Looking back on an interesting year…

Here are a few things that made 2005 a good year, in no particular order:

  • A new job at Buca, Inc. as their Web Administrator;
  • Musical performances with the Morris Park Players, the Chameleon Theatre Circle, and others, bringing new friends and great memories into my life; and
  • A new, close friendship with someone very special.

Here are a few other things that made 2005 a difficult year, in no particular order:

  • The loss of my full-time job and three months of unemployment;
  • Loss of direction in my symphonic performances; and
  • Mistakes that cost me a chance with an intelligent, talented individual and good friend.

As we move into 2006, I hope that having experienced these three exciting and three difficult things will help me make this new year better. Many dreams may pass unfulfilled, but to come close or to find some new, unexpected opportunities will make this year something worth remembering.

Posted: 03 January 2006, Matthew Schlukebier. | .

Happy New Year!

A new year begins with great hope.

I just wanted to post a Happy New Year message to all my friends, family and any who visit this site and read what I write. I hope this year begins for everyone with a positive outlook for all 2006 and that this year is even better than the last.

Last year has had its ups and downs for me, giving me some incredible experiences and memories (and a few that are not quite as worthwhile, but still help me learn and improve who I am). I have hopes that 2006 is a year that stands above the rest with many great events, some coming in just the next few months. (Keep your eye on my web log for more about those events!) I have made a few good resolutions, which I look forward to working on harder than ever.

Happy New Year!

Posted: New Year’s Day 2006, Matthew Schlukebier. | .