UTOSC Update Class #1

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Posted on 28th August 2008 by Krow in Miscellaneous

90% of the Python you need to know
Matt Harrison – Insight Industries

This has been the first conference I have gone to since I have left the Davis School District. I was thinking just this year that I have really missed going to the good old UTOUG conferences. At the time I was at the District I started hating them. They were boring and at times a waste of my day(s).

But walking into the presentation my mouth dropped. There was so many people there with their laptops open and running. This is not what I was expecting.

My thoughts about Python is that it is a really nice. The presentation was put together well. I did learn some very basic stuff. I was impressed that Matt encouraged people to bring their laptops because in his presentation he had some areas where he gave some time to let people practice what he had just talked about.

One thing that I did find different in Python was that it does not use { (curly bracket) like I am used to in PHP. Instead it uses a : (colon). And there is no closing } instead it uses white space to know this.

Using white space like this was something that opened my eyes to something that I have come across in my work place now. Proper indenting, everyone would need to set up their editor to handle this.

Either way this was a very good presentation that I fully enjoyed and learned a few things as well.

Utah Open Source Conference 2008

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Posted on 21st August 2008 by Krow in Miscellaneous

This Year’s Theme: HOWTO…

The idea is that within the technology, education, community and business tracks, there will be plenty to talk about.

* HOWTOs will help others get started
* HOWTOs will help families use open source together
* HOWTOs will provide a stepping stone along the road to technology mastery
* HOWTOs will let those that are masters get together and make the products better.

If you are interested in learning more, discussing the conference, or want to attend. Feel free to register here.

There are many more things that the theme HOWTO will accomplish during the Utah Open Source Conference (UTOSC) 2008.

Because 2007 was such a grand success, we’ve made some minor changes and improvements to help with a smoother conference. This year’s conference has moved location and added a full day on Thursday.

The Utah Open Source Conference 2008 will be held at the Salt Lake Community College, Redwood Road campus from August 28 – 30, 2008.

The Salt Lake Community College Computer Science department is excited to be a sponsor of the 2008 conference and will be using it to improve students’ awareness and understanding of open source software.

Web Safe Fonts

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Posted on 20th August 2008 by Krow in Miscellaneous |Tips & Tricks

Working with a client recently I learned some new and interesting things about fonts and how important it is to use web safe fonts. Not only use web safe fonts but to understand what “safe fonts” are.

Practically every personal computer has a set of fonts installed. These fonts are usually put there by the computer manufacturer or are the default sets of fonts for the operating system that computer is using. It’s possible to install additional fonts on your own.

However, not all font sets are created equal. Different computers can have very different sets of fonts installed, and most casual computer users never know the difference. If you decide to use a font on your page that a visitor doesn’t have, that font will render differently (and often unattractively) on the visitor’s machine.

So, how do you make sure that your fonts will look good on the largest number of computers out there? Easy: use Web safe fonts. As computing evolves, considerations for the Web have taken effect for modern operating systems and Web browsers. Among these considerations is a list of Web safe fonts that Web designers can use to make sure their fonts render properly. Web safe fonts are a set of highly common fonts that come installed on just about every computer out there.

If you use a font on your page that your visitor doesn’t have installed, their browser will pick a fallback font that you may not intend to appear on your page. Often, the result is ugly text that is not at all pleasing to read.

If a visitor can’t fluidly read your site, then they can’t get the information you provided, and this is the whole reason your visitors are at your site! Even if the text on your site is ugly and someone decides to trudge through it for your content, it will still look displeasing and you will retain fewer readers. And a Website with no readers is a waste.

Using Web safe fonts is just one part of a larger set of design practices that keep your site user friendly. Don’t strain a reader’s eyes, don’t make information difficult to find, and make sure they can progress through your site and content without having to think about it. If at any point someone looks at your site and takes even a millisecond to think, “Ugh, that’s some ugly text,” you’ve jarred the experience. Ideally, the entire encounter with your site should be smooth as silk, and using a Web safe font is a big part of attaining that goal.

So when do you use Web safe fonts? As a general rule, always use Web safe fonts for your page’s content.

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