I had some new fonts to install on our test server that runs Ubuntu server. Pretty simple really, just noting it down here for next time: Upload/ssh the font(s) to your home folder on the server Copy font to the system fonts folder, this way it can be used by all users on the system sudo cp -R ~/trade-gothic /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ Check permissions sudo chmod 755 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/trade-gothic/ Install the fonts so applications can use them sudo fc-cache -f -v

I had some strange behaviour with the jQuery verion of tinyMCE (3.4.6). Basically I was integrating the chosen library (which is build as a jQuery plugin), but it seems the $.attr(‘id’) from within chosen.js was returning a JavaScript element reference instead of the value of the “id” field. Some basic tracing showed the strange error: The solution for me was moving to tinyMCE 3.5.4.1 (and jQuery 1.7.2, previously I was on 1. ... Read more

Ok, a short warning to those who use underscores in their domain names. Underscores you say? Aren’t they illegal characters in domain names? Why yes they are (but I think they’re valid in sub-domains…not sure), but you may find yourself using them in development environments, particularly if you’re doing a re-design. Think something like _http://mysite_v2.local/_ etc Now, this works of course and everything is fine and dandy because your using your own hosts file to make it “legal”…except that Internet Explorer has this little quirk where it doesn’t persist your session (cookie) information. ... Read more

I’m probably a bit behind the times with this one, but Adobe have added “BrowserLab” functionality to “preview and test your web pages on leading browsers and operating systems - on demand”. Seems to work like other paid services, but is free :) https://browserlab.adobe.com/ Available browser options (across mac and windows) include: IE 6/7/8 Firefox 2⁄3 Safari 3⁄4

Hmm it seems firefox (Windows) 3.5.2 has decided to change the default location for downloading files. Used to be the desktop, but if you suddenly discover that you can’t find things you’ve download you might want to head to Tools->Options in firefox. If you see “Downloads” as the chosen folder (as below), you can change it back to the desktop. Safari (at least on the Mac) also annoyingly places files there. ... Read more

For those that use gtalk/gmail, google have finally caught up and released voice and video chat. They even help you buy a webcam!

Yep, Google have entered the browser market with Google Chrome. Although the press release was sent a little early, you can read an interesting comic book (PDF) here with some quite technical details on the ins and outs of Google’s newest plan for world domination philanthropic effort. Webkit is the rendering engine, and the V8 team have created an entirely new JavaScript Virtual Machine to help make this browser super quick and stable. ... Read more

Stumbled upon this article today detailing a Gmail hacking tool presented at the Defcon hackers’ conference in Las Vegas which will be released in a week or so. While news about the insecurity of accessing personal information without using encryption is really nothing new it serves as a timely reminder to secure ALL information you access online including email (not just your bank account!). So much detail of our personal and professional lives are held in our (primary) email account, so much so that if it was compromised the fallout could be quite devastating. ... Read more

Looking to escape from a date or to get out of any sticky social situation? Try this free online automated callback service called getmooh. It is designed to help you escape a variety of situations by calling you automatically on your phone at a pre-specified time and playing you a recording which will either instruct you on what to say to elude your tormentor(s), or which will simply give a convincing sense of you being on an important call. ... Read more

We’ve all experienced dealing with clients before, even if they are “internal” clients within our organisation. Today I saw this article on 12 Breeds of Client and How to Work with Them. The article mentions 12 different types of client (like a low-tech or hands-on client), how to spot one, the highs and lows of dealing with them and how to work effectively together. A good read :)