coldcactus.blog http://blog.coldcactus.com Most recent posts at coldcactus.blog posterous.com Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:10:42 -0700 Creative Twitter Backgrounds http://blog.coldcactus.com/creative-twitter-backgrounds http://blog.coldcactus.com/creative-twitter-backgrounds When given the opportunity to upload a single image to make your mark, I love that so much raw creativity is the result. Just look at all of these!

 http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/06/100-creative-twitter-backgrounds-feat...

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:52:10 -0700 My poor Mac! http://blog.coldcactus.com/my-poor-mac http://blog.coldcactus.com/my-poor-mac This breaks my heart - my poor Mac!

Img_7891

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Fri, 05 Dec 2008 09:19:48 -0800 Coolest board design ever! http://blog.coldcactus.com/coolest-board-design-ever http://blog.coldcactus.com/coolest-board-design-ever Live Nude Girls!

Photo

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:38:04 -0800 Problems updating your gem installation? http://blog.coldcactus.com/problems-updating-your-gem-ins http://blog.coldcactus.com/problems-updating-your-gem-ins Usually my ruby stack is rock solid. But horror of horrors, I was let down today! A simple 'sudo gem update --system' resulted in:

 ERROR: While executing gem ... (NameError)
  undefined local variable or method `remote_gemspecs' for #

 The release notes inform me: NOTE: RubyGems 1.1 and 1.2 have problems upgrading when there is no
rubygems-update installed.

 So a quick sudo update_rubygems later and we're off to the races! Now I'm off to to play with Edge Rails new template features....

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:48:28 -0800 Versions is out of Beta http://blog.coldcactus.com/versions-is-out-of-beta http://blog.coldcactus.com/versions-is-out-of-beta Well, it looks like Versions is out of Beta! I just got a discount code via e-mail from Beanstalk, but the gateway it links to is down. Over-demand! The Versions site is still there, and it says the app is priced at €39. That's not bad at all!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:10:45 -0700 Sweet Theme! http://blog.coldcactus.com/sweet-theme http://blog.coldcactus.com/sweet-theme The coldcactus tumblr blog is now officially a sweet theme over at Tumblr HQ - that's sweet!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:15:00 -0700 Techno-Joy! http://blog.coldcactus.com/techno-joy http://blog.coldcactus.com/techno-joy

Oh wow, I have serious techno-joy going on right now. The new Apple MacBook is just incredible - beautiful, stylish, practical, minimalist, ingenious. Fabulous! That enough superlatives for ya?!

I'm seeing a new purchase in my tea leaves...
Overview-gallery6-20081014

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:33:49 -0700 Poor, neglected a:visited http://blog.coldcactus.com/poor-neglected-avisited http://blog.coldcactus.com/poor-neglected-avisited There's the ability on the web to determine if a link has already been clicked on, and to display it slightly differently if it has.

You see this all the time on a page of results at google - the way a page you've already visited is purple to let you know you've been there already. This behaviour is pretty much default in fact, and too many web designers (myself included!) tend to style for links and neglect the poor a:visited property - even to prevent anything unique happening to a previously visited link. I've always thought it can spoil a design to have different coloured links all over the place with no clear indication to the user of why there's some links in blue and some links in green.

Well - Apple have just changed my mind!

They have an awesome collection of brief 'tip' videos over at http://www.apple.com/business/theater/. You'll notice after you've watched a few that you get neat little 'ticks' to indicate which ones you've already viewed. I love this! It's really intelligent design - a clear indicator beyond 'different colour' to show where a page has been visited. So obvious when you think about it!

So I've mercilessly ripped off the idea, and the navbar on the coldcactus site now shows similar little 'tick' marks to aid user navigation. You can see a little example below - I love 'em!

Example_ticks

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Sat, 04 Oct 2008 09:51:00 -0700 Office Artwork! http://blog.coldcactus.com/office-artwork http://blog.coldcactus.com/office-artwork
Simon's been creative this week, and there's new artwork for the office wall!

Img_0233

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:55:11 -0700 Versions Subversion Client http://blog.coldcactus.com/versions-subversion-client http://blog.coldcactus.com/versions-subversion-client There's a new kid on the block! I've been using the Beta of Versions for some time now, and today I realised just how truly great it is - so I figured I'd give it some love!

I had been using svnX previously, but Versions has completely replaced it in my workflow. It's a true Cocoa app, it's powerful, it's already pretty complete and it's totally lickable to boot. There's no substitute for the Terminal, but I much prefer using a GUI to I can easily SEE what's ready to be checked in - and Versions is it for me now.

I'm buying it when it's fully released - even if it's disgracefully overpriced. Those clever people at Pico + Sofa Design are like virtual crack dealers, clearly. They pull you in with free samples until your hooked and then it's too late! Check it out for yourself at http://versionsapp.com/ - they'll do a much better job of telling you about features than I will!

Noon

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Mon, 22 Sep 2008 09:56:00 -0700 Damn Phone Companies! http://blog.coldcactus.com/damn-phone-companies http://blog.coldcactus.com/damn-phone-companies

Why is it that when I request a PAC code to transfer network, it takes 7 days to 'generate'? This is 2008 - it doesn't take a week!
If you're going to incessantly hassle me with marginally improved 'offers' for a week, then just tell me - don't question my intelligence. I've put up with enough shit already, I'll happily hang-up on you for a further week to get rid of you!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:22:00 -0700 iClip widget Leopard fix http://blog.coldcactus.com/iclip-widget-leopard-fix http://blog.coldcactus.com/iclip-widget-leopard-fix
I love the dashboard widget iClip lite from inventive.us - I find it indispensable!

Check it out: http://inventive.us/iCliplite/


It has a number of 'bins' that you can dump the contents of your clipboard into. I use it store all sorts - images, code snippets, telephone numbers. It is VERY handy. It looks totally lickable, too. The only problem is that in Leopard the contents of each bin render incorrectly, and it really spoils the look of the thing.

Well, I've just got so sick of waiting for them to drop any sort of update, I had a poke about and figured out a quick fix. Can't seem to find anything on google, so i thought I'd stick up here in case it helps anyone else.

Basically, open the package contents for the widget, and in the file .widget/js/scripts.js

Line 49 reads:
node.setAttribute("style", "position: absolute; left: 1.5em; top: 1.5em;
width: 7.2em; height: 7.2em;");

Change the width and height attributes to 30em and 15em respectively like
this:

node.setAttribute("style", "position: absolute; left: 1.5em; top: 1.5em;
width: 30em; height: 15em;");

and everything looks fine!

Icliplite

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:40:00 -0700 Making Biltong http://blog.coldcactus.com/making-biltong http://blog.coldcactus.com/making-biltong
I've been meaning to post these somewhere for a while now - great opportunity to try out the galleries here!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:44:49 -0700 Quick bit of geekery http://blog.coldcactus.com/quick-bit-of-geekery http://blog.coldcactus.com/quick-bit-of-geekery Fingers crossed, this should land on my Posterous and my Tumblr as a result of one little sent email! Wonders never cease!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:30:00 -0700 Brilliant Marketing! http://blog.coldcactus.com/brilliant-marketing http://blog.coldcactus.com/brilliant-marketing

I just love this advert for Radio 1! Saw it in widescreen at the Dark Knight premier - the geek police released me, it was  a special occasion - and I just completely loved it. (Apart from Westwood, but that goes without saying).

It sums up the best bits of Radio 1 perfectly - i.e. it's shite during the daytime, and indispensable on a night (and more importantly on iPlayer!)

I am a music junkie!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:12:00 -0700 Rock on... http://blog.coldcactus.com/if-this-works-i-just-typed-thi http://blog.coldcactus.com/if-this-works-i-just-typed-thi
If this works, I just typed this in Quicksilver and had it automatically mailed to my Posterous via an Automator action. If you can read this, it must have worked and I've been abducted by the Geek Police for questioning.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:33:14 -0700 I'm on the frontpage of Design Shack! http://blog.coldcactus.com/im-on-the-frontpage-of-design http://blog.coldcactus.com/im-on-the-frontpage-of-design

Well, the coldcactus website is, but that's me!

It's been picked to feature in the design gallery - how cool! It's only just gone properly live yesterday, too. Check it out!

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78795/Daniel_Hat.jpg http://posterous.com/users/hJDxIGg3w Daniel Beattie danbt79 Daniel Beattie