Benjamin posts an interesting response to Joel Spolsky’s interview on Microsoft-watch. Basically Joel says he’s not interested in Indigo since it is just a “big communications architecture” that makes it easier to build connected systems. Here are my thoughts in response to some of Benjamin’s questions: There is...

In the comments to my previous post, Scott Galloway noted that advertisements could be the only thing keeping some web sites afloat financially. I noted that I didn’t mind text ads or static images, but animated gifs and Flash ads had to go. Well, it doesn’t have to be one or the other. FlashBlock is a Mozilla/Firefox extension that...

I’ve seen some things about blocking ads from web pages, such as the AdBlock extension. AdBlock is good, but I can only block ads after I’ve seen them. The best method I’ve seen so far was developed by Neil Jenkins. Just add some code to your userContent.css file, and you’ll get almost no ads. Neil also updates the page...

I was looking for a good book about how a professional services firm operates. There are tons of lame books for “getting started in consulting” or “your first year as a consultant”, but I wanted something that was more geared toward firms. You know, those companies with more than a couple loosely-connected independent...

I’m currently reading Code Complete 2 by Steve McConnell and I just finished Chapter 9. Chapter 9 talks about the Pseudocode Programming Process (PPP) in detail. PPP helps you design high-quality routines (methods in .NET). Basically you write what the routine should do and how it will do it in plain English (or your native language)...

Since the project I’m working on is in the later stages, this post about bad testing from Hacknot is particularly timely. I agree with almost all of it, though it is obviously biased toward the development point of view, and the last point he makes, that developers should determine the partial code coverage, is wrong in my opinion.This...

Ok, this is the last Firefox tip on searching. You’ve added smart keywords to your search and added custom search engines to Firefox. Now you’re tired of clicking on the little icon to change the search engine you’re using and you need a keyboard shortcut! Press Ctrl + UP arrow or Ctrl + DOWN arrow to cycle through...

Here’s a neat little T-SQL trick. You can use set-based operations on variables. For example, copy this in SQL Server Query Analyzer and running it prints “Vowel” to the output window: DECLARE @letter char(1)SELECT @letter = 'A'IF @letter IN ('A', 'E', 'I', 'O',...

One thing I miss in Firefox is having an image’s alt text appear when you pause your mouse over it. Apparently someone else did too, because there’s a Popup ALT Attributes extension. There is even support for multi-line alt tags by modifying the user.js file.This Blog Hosted On: http://www.DotNetJunkies.com/

This tip is a follow-up to Friday’s Firefox tip thanks to Jason Row. If you click the Google icon in the search box you will see a list of default search engines that include Amazon, Dictionary.com, eBay, and Yahoo! There is also the option to “Add engines…” which will take you to a page that allows you to add smart...

I end up searching several different web sites frequently, and it’s a pain going to the site first, then entering my search term, and finally looking at the results. Luckily Firefox has a huge shortcut to this. Here’s how: Go to the page with the search form. For this example, let’s go to the MSDN  home page. In the...

By request, I've added a Firefox Tips category. It will contain, amazingly enough, tips and tricks for using Firefox.This Blog Hosted On: http://www.DotNetJunkies.com/

The MSDN facelift (not MSDN2) hosed the formatting of code samples in Firefox and Mozilla browsers. To fix it, add this to your userContent.css file (chromEdit is the easiest way to modify this file): /* Microsoft MSDN code stylesheet */pre{ white-space: pre !important;}This Blog Hosted On: http://www.DotNetJunkies.com/

Time:  7:00pm, Thursday Sep. 30 (that is tonight!)Place:  Coliseum Mall in Hampton (directions)What:  Geek talk and mall food Just look for me:This Blog Hosted On: http://www.DotNetJunkies.com/

Firefox 1.0PR broke the old way of making the search box wider. The new way is to add this to your userChrome.css file (I like my search box BIG, you can adjust the number to suit): /* Make the Search box flex wider */ #search-container {   -moz-box-flex: 600 !important;}#searchbar {   -moz-box-flex: 600 !important;} This is...