Tag: Photos

As you might imagine, I’m bored at work1 and I’m trying to come up with something to keep my brain alive. So here’s another QotD2 for you; what are your favorite web development tools?

My response is slightly complicated because I use both Linux & Windows and use different tools under each. Note that these lists are presented in no particular order.

Linux Web Development Tools

  • Quanta for editing HTML, CSS & PHP.
  • Bluefish is another good tool for editing HTML, CSS & PHP but its interface just feels a lot more clutured.
  • GIMP for editing images, though to be perfectly honest I hate using it because the interface is just wretched. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of another image editor that I can use under Linux which has the functionality that I need.

Windows Web Development Tools

  • UltraEdit is the best text editor for Windows. Period. It’s not free but there is a time-limited demo. You can edit pretty much anything with UltraEdit and there are additional wordlists & dictionaries for it to make it even easier to use. Though as I recall CSS is not included with the default word list –this means UltraEdit won’t do syntax highlighting for CSS by default– but an additional wordlist can be downloaded to take care of that.
  • Fireworks MX is the best image editing program, particularly for web work. It’s interface feels very well laid out, hiding options you don’t immediately need and grouping similar options together. Plus, it uses Adobe Photoshop’s plugin architecture allowing you to easily expand the functionality of the software. Again, this isn’t free software but there is a time-limited demo. Unfortunately, the Crossweavers version of Wine lists this program as Known Not to Run; so I won’t be running this under Linux any time soon. *sigh*

1 For the record, I am working right now. I’m trying to get the program I test to generate some errors so I can test some new functionality that the programmers added to the error handling. Naturally now that I want the program to break; it’s not. *sigh*
2 QotD (acronym): There are 2 generally accecpted meanings for this acronym,

  1. Quote of the Day
  2. Question of the Day

Unless otherwise noted, this site uses the 2nd definition.

Like many an American when I go into my bathroom at home to take care of business; I frequently like to have something to occupy my mind while the rest of me is busy. Occasionally I’ll take whatever book I’m reading at the moment with me, but I don’t like to do that because I tend to get caught up in the book and don’t leave the bathroom until my legs are asleep. I’ve found that taking a magazine in with me works better, as I can finish my business and read through an article at the same time.

I used to subscribe to CPU Magazine but my subscription is running out now and I don’t plan on renewing it. I’ve known for a while that I can basically get all the same info that’s in the magazine before the magazine goes to print by surfing the web. That didn’t bother me so much when the magazine was newer but the last several issues were completely dull. Maybe that’s because the whole tech industry is getting to be boring; I don’t know. What I do know is if I’m going to read dull information; I sure as hell don’t want to pay for the privilege.

So what am I reading these days? Well, first off there’s American Bungalow. I really love this magazine as it’s full of great photographs of lovely houses nd has articles about restoration projects. And let’s face it after abut 11 years of apartment living; I’m being totally consumed by house-envy. This magazine doesn’t help me with that in any way, shape or form but it does give me these crazy & exciting ideas of what I want in a house and what I’ll do to a house once I finally buy one. The only downsides to this magazine are that it only comes out quarterly and it’s rather expensive (~$12). So I tend to buy it at our local B&N, so I can use our membership card for the discount. Plus by getting it at the store, I don’t have to worry about our mailman shredding it in our mailbox; which has happened more than a few times. *grumble, grumble*

The other magazine that I’ve just started reading is mental_floss. I heard about this one about a week ago while blog-hopping1 and it sounded interesting. So the next time Ariesna & I were in B&N; I bought a copy of it. Basically, the magazine is full of trivia and wacky/interesting information. So far it seems like it will be a fun mag and I’ll probably pick up the next issue when it comes out (since it only costs ~$5). If the next one is also fun; then I might end up subscribing to this one and hence will have plenty of bathroom reading handy. 😛

1 Blog-hopping (verb): The process by which a person reads an article one blog and then proceeds to follow links from the blog that they are currently reading to another blog.

Normally given the choice, I will sleep blissfully through all of Saturday morning, arising from the depths of my slumber only when the morning has past. Unfortunately, I’d gotten stuck at work Friday night till nearly 7 and so I couldn’t get the rent paid the night before. Since rent must be paid within 3 days or you get hit with a late fee and since I’ve had problems before with dropping the rent off in the night deposit box around a holiday weekend; I really needed to get the rent paid while the bank was open. So my alarm was set and awaken in the wee hours of Saturday morning I did. Ariesna decided to go along with me; so went off to the bank and successfully paid the rent and then hit up the post office.

While I was waiting in line there, an old/odd friend of ours was there as well. Elf was farther up in line than I and was trying to be friendly, but I’m not at my best during the morning particularly not during the morning before I’ve gotten some caffeine in my blood. So, I apologize Elf; I wasn’t trying to be rude/mean, I just don’t do mornings. Finally it was my turn and I got my package mailed off1. The post office was kind of nice because my favorite worker waited on me. He’s an older guy who’s always nice and has a smile for everyone. Plus, he seems to take some real pride in his work and his appearance; as I’ve never seen him show up looking sloppy (like most of his co-workers do).
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Hi, I’m Mark (aka Manzabar1). If you want to know more about me; well, you’ll just have to keep reading this blog and see what you can learn as I go along.

I’ve had this domain for a short time now and finally plunked down the moolah to get a proper host for it (thank you Digital Sense Hosting).

I imagine if you’ve probably got some questions about the who/what/why of CoffeeBear.net, so here are some of the answers. If you have a question that’s not answered in this post; contact me and I’ll reply. Though if your question is too personal, then the reply might be no more than “I’m not going to answer that.”
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