Jan 04
Earlier today I searched the internet for a 2006 wall planner – kind of like the Sasco wall planners that you see on office walls. I didn’t find what I was looking for, apart from a couple of sites wanting to sell me the real thing and a couple of dodgy looking JPGs, so I spent some time during my lunch hour creating one. It’s done in Microsoft Excel format and there are both horizontal and vertical versions. Feel free to download them using the following links.
2006 Horizontal Planner
2006 Vertical Planner
The holidays are official UK holidays taken from the DTI’s web site.
If you find these planners useful, please consider making a small donation
I’m not entirely sure about the colours or layout, so if you have any suggestions, please leave a comment and I will see what I can do.
Update: 19/10/2006 – Due to popular demand, I have created a set for 2007 as well
Dec 19
As just reported by The register, a recent Microsoft update causes problems with Internet Explorer 6 if you’ve previously run version 7 (beta) in ‘standalone’ mode.
This hit me, but I was blaming it on a recent install of the Opera web browser as that and the update coincided, so apologies to Opera. The problem I was experiencing was that when typing in a URL in the address bar, or opening a bookmark, IE was launching the default browser (which could look like a new window if IE was set as the default). Kind of cool, but not when you use apps that require IE and use popup windows 
The solution is to delete the registry key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{c90250f3-4d7d-4991-9b69-a5c5bc1c2ae6}
Dec 09
Molly E. Holzschlag, Group Lead at the Web Standards Project (WaSP) has posted an open letter (partly because their feedback system no longer works!) to Disney Store UK on her blog, regarding their recent redesign.
It seems that whoever redesigned the site doesn’t have any idea about web standards and semantic design, as all trace of the previous, well-written site, which was used as an example in numerous case studys about modern web design best practice, has gone. Instead we’re now served up a table based design that “regresses back to all the bad habits that have hurt the progress of Web development and design.”
Dec 07
Received this in my Download Squad RSS feed this morning. Norwegian developer Haakon Bertheussen has implemented an algorithm that colorises black and white photos in his own program called Recolored. The Windows beta is available to play with for free.
I downloaded and tested it with a desaturated photo and the results were amazing – on the first try! With practice I think this tool has real potential! My grandparents had a collection of old sepia toned photos that I have scanned and I can’t wait to try this out on them.
Dec 01
I’ve always used SharpReader for aggregating RSS feeds, but after a recent debate at work I’m finding myself trying two new programs. Problem is, I can’t decide between them 
The two that I’m trialling are RSSOwl and RSS Bandit (A somewhat dubious name, which I’m sure is no mistake!). I love Owl’s look and feel, but wish it had the unread news and newspaper view format of Bandit. Both are free and OSS.
Searching on Google, RSS Bandit seems to be the most used/recommended, but I just wish it didn’t have that Office 2003 look compared to RSSOwl’s clean, stylish, FireFoxy interface.
Update: Well, I’ve ditched RSSOwl in favour of RSS Bandit. Bandit is a bit more polished in terms of it’s functionality, even though I’m not keen on it’s UI.
Nov 11
I’ll be at the Nielsen Norman Group User Experience 2005 Conference on Sunday and Monday with Rob, in the Information Architecture 1 & 2 presentations.
Nov 08
Microsoft has released the slimmed down versions of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 for free! Go grab your copy from here now!
Thanks to Owen for the info!
P.S. If you want a full install, not a network one, try looking here
