Monthly Archives: March 2007

Mar 26

Yahoo! Hack Day – Paxilled

Posted on by

There’s a special buzz around the halls of Yahoo! today as Hack Day is about to begin. We have 24 hours to build, modify, or tweak the existing Yahoo! Technologies. We can also go outside the box and build new technologies.

Hundertwasser pathway in Vienna

I have decided to go way, way, way outside the box with my hack. I’m hacking the lexicon, the dictionary, the world of slang. I’m bypassing the world of code and trying to use the social network world to add a new word to our vocabulary.

Paxilled

Pronunciation: ‘paks-seld’
Function: adjective
  1. Resembling the common side-effects of Paxil® medication: blurry, anxious, confused.
    Sample Uses
    The new Tarantino film left me paxilled
    The site launched with a crowded, paxilled navigation menu
    The lensbaby gives photos a paxilled effect
  2. Medicated with Paxil.
    Sample Uses
    Susan is happier with her paxilled hubby.
Uses

This hack is about the web’s social network capability. Consider this an invitation to use the word and publish it.

Here’s what you can do:

  • Visit www.paxilled.com for the full definition and links to progress results.
  • If you use Flickr , add the tag “paxilled” to images that are… paxilled. These could be images that are blurry, confused, hectic, anxious… The image could be perfectly normal but represent a paxilled person, place or thing.
  • Join the new Flickr photo group: paxilled
  • Use paxilled in a blog post and add the tag “paxilled”. Use paxilled in other types of publications.
  • Use paxilled in your daily conversation.
  • Add paxilled to wikipedia, urban slang dictionary, or any other online resource center that you think may be appropriate.

If you have something online, share it with a comment on this post.

Mar 16

Sample XHTML2 code

Posted on by

XHTML2 has been discussed for several years. It’s a logical evolution of HTML and XHTML. It introduces new tags that offer more flexibility and semantic value. So, what does it look like? Explorin Lauren has put together a sample page and it looks pretty simple.

XHTML2 introduces a new list item, the NL or Navigation List. Think of this as a cross between a DL and a UL. It is built similar to the UL but has a label tag.

You’ll also notice the image tag has been replaced with the more agnostic object tag.

Will you actually begin using XHTML2? Unfortunately, it’s not backwards compatible and browsers need a lot of evolving before they are ready for the new code. HTML5 is more likely the next evolution of HTML.

After working with XML for the past couple years, I would enjoy the structure of XHTML2. However, I also hate to think of the logistics of converting existing CMS sites and legacy sites to the new code. Not to mention the branching of CSS and/or JS for the new DOM elements.

Mar 15

Tails firefox extension updated

Posted on by

microformats logoThe Tails extension for Firefox has been updated. This is great for those working in microformats. It allows you to quickly check your code.

I was having trouble testing some hreview elements today and assumed I had the latest version of Tails. Fortunately, a link on Microformatique suggested visiting the Tails home page to really get the most recent version.

If you have this extension in Firefox, do not count on the usual ff extension update thingamabob to work. Go to the Tails site today and get the latest version (.3.7). It is much, much better than the one I used to have (.3.1).

Mar 13

The Future of Semantic Markup

Posted on by

John Allsopp has an interesting set of articles about semantic markup on Microformatique. This last installment, the future of semantic markup is well worth reading.

Future Semantics

So far we’ve seen that there are three sources of semantics in HTML

  • The built in semantics of HTML itself – its elements and attributes
  • The ad hoc semantics of developers inventing their own vocabularies, which is typically “injected” into HTML largely using the class and id attributes of HTML
  • Semi structured approaches to developing richer semantics, in particular the microformats project.

It would make sense that future semantic developments of HTML would come from these or similar sources or approaches. In this article I want to focus on each in turn, and consider the benefits and shortcomings of each approach to developing richer semantics for HTML.

I’ll begin with the second approach, “bottom up” semantics, which I considered in the first article, and have paid no small amount of attention to with previous research. In short, despite the success of bottom up ontologies, what Thomas Vander Wal terms “folksonomies”, where common vocabularies for describing things emerge through ad hoc usage (well known examples are Flickr’s tags, and Del.icio.us), vocabularies for describing common data on the web simply haven’t emerged. This is not just an assertion, as my previous research indicates. It should in fact not come as a surprise, because class values, for example, are “hidden”, while tags at del.icio.us or flickr, by comparison are visible giving rise to a positive feedback loop – when I as a user see a tag for a particular kind of thing, I am more likely to use it myself for similar kinds of things. Over time, particular terms appear to “win”, and become the conventionally accepted tag for that kind of thing. With class and id values on the other hand, we simply don’t get the network effect to anoint particular words as the names of things.

Semantics in HTML Part III – Towards a semantic web

Mar 05

Front-end Engineering Job Opening with Yahoo! Tech

Posted on by

There’s a dream job opening with Yahoo! Tech.

We’re looking for someone that knows CSS and JavaScript. You need to eat, drink, and sleep standards-based web development, accessibility, and have a passion for doing the job right the first time. You need to be self-motivated, out-going, and hungry for new technologies and skills.

This opening is for my dream job. Yes, I am leaving Yahoo! in the near future and joining European Yahoo! for a position in Paris. So, you’ll have some big shoes to fill as I leave for my next dream opportunity.

If you are ready to ditch your current gig for this opportunity at Yahoo! Send me your resume and we’ll get the ball rolling. We need to find the best person as soon as possible.
Resumes can be sent to tdrake@yahoo-inc.com.