March 2008 - Posts
One of the reasons I haven't used Expression Web as my main design tool is the lack of a built-in feature comparable to the FrontPage Design Time Include Component. I'm happy to report that the Include function is back in the Expression Web 2 Beta. It's not a button on the Standard Toolbar, but there is a way to add it and the functionality is there. It works the same way it does in FrontPage 2003.
I was having a conversation today with a Twitter friend about cellphones - my Sprint contract expired this week - and we were discussing the BlackBerry. I took a look at what Sprint has to offer - the only BlackBerry they have with a camera is the BlackBerry Pearl. My friend said the thing she doesn't like about the Pearl is the lack of a full keyboard. To be honest with you, that doesn't really bother me because right now, all I have is a regular phone with number keys.
A little while later, I saw this post Shouldi.com - Instant Social Advice and decided to check it out. I registered at Shouldi.com and asked my question and even though the site is still in Beta, I got three answers - all "Yes".
You can ask and get your answers by cell phone, IM or by email. You can read the questions that other people are asking and offer your advice (pay it forward?). I recommend you give it a try.
If you're a Microsoft MVP and you're going to the Summit in April, this post from Michael Fosmire is one you should really read. There's a lot of good information about the hotels and transportation, and links to the webcasts being held on March 25th.
Link: MVP Global Summit 2008 Announcements : Guide to Global Summit Hotels
New Web site and open-source accessibility testing tools will help developers meet the growing worldwide demand for accessible technology.
Microsoft Corp. today launched a new online resource and released two new open-source accessibility testing tools for developers who want to create accessible and assistive technology products that make it easier for everyone —including people with impairments and disabilities — to see, hear and use computers and other devices.
As the demand for accessibility increases, driven by a rapidly aging work force and an increasing number of people who use accessible technology to customize their computers for greater comfort and productivity, so does the need for more developer resources and better testing tools that have the capacity to evolve.
“We are helping to create a developer community that is focused on accessibility, and to improve the ability of developers around the world to share their experiences and build more accessible desktop, server and Web applications,” said Norm Hodne, Windows Accessibility lead at Microsoft. “Microsoft has been a leader in accessibility for over 20 years, making our products more accessible and providing resources that other companies can use to develop their own accessible technology products. Today’s announcement is another example of our long-standing commitment to accessibility.”
Microsoft Accessibility Developer Center
Microsoft PressPass: Microsoft Announces New Accessibility Tools and Resources for Developers: New Web site and open-source accessibility testing tools will help developers meet the growing worldwide demand for accessible technology.
Microsoft has created a new WebDAV extension module that has been completely rewritten for Windows Server 2008. This new WebDAV extension module incorporates many new features that enable web authors to publish content better than before, and offers web administrators more security and deployment options. For additional information, please see our documentation.
This new WebDAV extension module is only for Windows Server 2008 and Internet Information Services 7.0; it will not work on Windows Server 2003 and Internet Information Services 6.0.
Link: IIS.net : Microsoft WebDAV Extension for IIS 7.0 (x86) : Download : Microsoft Internet Information Services
If you don't subscribe to the FAIL Blog, you really are missing some good laughs.
Link: Basket Dominance « The FAIL Blog
If you are having a hard time explaining to your friends what Twitter is all about, this video might help.
Building on the successful launch of Microsoft Expression Web and after listening closely to your feedback, we are excited to announce the release of Microsoft Expression Web 2 Beta. This Beta release expands your toolset beyond HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, by putting PHP, Silverlight, and ASP.NET AJAX within your reach.
Stacked with new features, Expression Web 2 provides essential tools to design standards-based websites. Web professionals can now author websites on the PHP platform more efficiently with features such as PHP syntax highlighting and statement completion (IntelliSense). Additionally for PHP, we provide an elegant solution that current Expression Web users rave about for previewing ASP.NET pages: Expression Web 2 lets you preview PHP pages locally without a separate development web server! Expression Web 2 supports interactive web content such as Silverlight and Flash, enabling you to easily include this content in your sites. Improved workflow enables you to import Adobe Photoshop designs into your sites with layer visibility control, and reimport changes with layer settings retained. New and enhanced productivity features boost your performance!
Note: You can safely install the BETA of Expression Web 2 on a computer that also has Expression Web 1 on it. If you participated in a private preview program for Expression Web 2, you should uninstall the private preview version of Expression Web 2 before you install the BETA version.
To download and install the Expression Web 2 Beta, click here.
To submit suggestions and bugs, click here.
Link: Expression Web team blog : Expression Web 2 BETA
Welcome to the Windows® Internet Explorer® 8 Readiness Toolkit, the first place to look when you’re ready to optimize web sites and applications for Internet Explorer 8. Here is a message from Chris Wilson, IE Platform Architect:
"Welcome to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, the latest test release of the most popular browser!
This release contains some great advances in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and layout, programming model, performance, reliability, usability and service integration. We are eager to ensure that the transition to Internet Explorer 8 is seamless for you and your audience, and to give you a head start on using many of the new features with your sites and services. We encourage you to test your sites and services, and our platform implementation, and give us feedback!"
Link: Internet Explorer 8 Readiness Toolkit
Tina Clarke, Microsoft MVP for FrontPage, has launched her latest Expression Web Tips Vol ll Ebook containing twenty-six Original Tips for Expression Web that can not be found elsewhere.
link: Expression Web Blog
IE8 will act like IE8, not IE7.
We’ve decided that IE8 will, by default, interpret web content in the most standards compliant way it can. This decision is a change from what we’ve posted previously.
Why Change?
Microsoft recently published a set of Interoperability Principles. Thinking about IE8’s behavior with these principles in mind, interpreting web content in the most standards compliant way possible is a better thing to do.
We think that acting in accordance with principles is important, and IE8’s default is a demonstration of the interoperability principles in action. While we do not believe any current legal requirements would dictate which rendering mode a browser must use, this step clearly removes this question as a potential legal and regulatory issue. As stated above, we think it’s the better choice.
The rest of this blog post provides context around the different modes, the technical challenge, and what it means going forward.
More at: IEBlog : Microsoft's Interoperability Principles and IE8
Microsoft and Ready-to-Run Software have released a new version of the FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions (FPSE 2002) for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista.
This version of the FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions is designed for 32-bit and 64-bit systems. (Note: The FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions use a 32-bit worker process on 64-bit systems.)
Link: IIS.net : FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions for IIS 7.0 : Download : Microsoft Internet Information Services
Zappos has been getting some buzz lately in the blogosphere for their shipping policy, which has always been great. Free is always great, right? Yesterday, I placed an order at Zappos.com for 3 pairs of sandals and chose free standard shipping, which is 4-5 business days. It's still winter - I can wait 4-5 business days for sandals.
Today I got another email from Zappos:
Good news!
Although you originally ordered Standard (4 to 5 business days) shipping and handling, we have given your order special priority processing in our warehouse and are upgrading the shipping and delivery time frame for your order.
Your order will ship out Monday, March 3rd 2008 and be given a special priority shipping status so that you can receive your order even faster than we originally promised!
Wow. What a great way to keep me loyal as a customer!