Ravings of a Lunatic

Windows Live Writer

David Totzke — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 06:27:14 GMT

Ok, now that's cool.

I've been meaning to try out Windows Live Writer for making blog posts because one of the things that stops me from posting very much is that it's a bit of a pain. The editors that are embedded in blog software such as Subtext, a fork of the popular .Text software, are surprisingly good but can only take you so far. Things like inserting a picture can be a real pain and I always find myself switching to the source view to tweak things here and there.

I fired up the program after installing it and a wizard started up. I picked the option for an existing blog, gave it the URL of my blog, my username, and my password and then it did everything else all by itself! You mileage may vary depending on whether or not you blogging platform supports the APIs for which Live Writer is looking. (or Live Writer supports your blogging platform of choice - I'm not certain as to which way around this works)

Like I said, that's frickin' cool.

I think that the most attractive feature for me is the ability to save a draft of the post and come back to it later. I know that with Subtext I can save a post as unpublished and come back to it but that still requires me to be online. For me, the experience of a rich desktop program is just far superior to a similar experience that is web-based.

Raise your hand if you do this:

Write your post
Copy the text (if I can, I copy the actual HTML Source, just in case)
Paste it into Notepad or other suitable program
Submit your post

And why do we do this? Because we've all been burned when something goes wrong with the post and hitting the back button returns us to a blank form. Here in Live Writer I simply hit the Save Draft button and I have a nice safe local copy.

Often times when composing a post you want to be sure that it's going to render properly and Subtext doesn't have the facility to preview a post. (at least not that I can find) You can save it unpublished so that the public can't see it but that means that neither can you. All that remains is to publish your post unfinished and then have a look at it and then Shower, Rinse, Repeat. Annoying. You favourite (OMG it knows I'm Canadian!) Blog aggregator will likely detect these multiple edits and do something weird as well. This is where I discover the View menu.

In addition to the HTML Code view there is also a Web Layout view and a Web Preview. Web Preview shows me my post as it would appear on the actual site! That is super cool.

The final feature that is immediately noticeable is the [Set categories] area at the bottom of the UI just above the status bar. Clicking here shows me a list of the blog categories that it has pulled down from my blog. They're my categories. Let's see, there's "Ravings of a Lunatic". Definitely need to check that one.

Now, all of this assumes that when I finally get around to hitting the Publish button that the post actually makes it unscathed onto my blog. Given how smooth the experience has been thus far, confidence is high.

Time to Point Your Toes; We're Going In Deep.

Dave
Just because I can...

[UPDATE: Holy Crap It Worked!!]

There Will Be Code

David Totzke — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:42:07 GMT

Inspired via the Monkey. His Kung Fu is strong.

Ladies and Gentlemen if I say I am a SOFTWARE ARCHITECT you will agree with me. And I wish to speak to you today about DEVELOPING SOFTWARE. There are those who will say they can craft you an application, and that may VERY WELL be TRUE. But can they get you to ZERO BUG BOUNCE? Can they craft a decent USER INTERFACE. Can they craft a decent CONFIGURATION MANAGER? Will they rely on a creaky THREE-TIER ARCHITECTURE or have they mastered FIVE? It is these QUESTIONS you must consider.

I have applications running in the FORTUNE 500, you see. I have had meetings with executives both HIGH and LOW. You could go with someone from DEVRY, or someone who's developed an E-COMMERCE SITE, yes, for his UNCLE's fix-it business. But only I can have the FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATION and the ARCHITECTURAL ROADMAP for your application by APRIL. I can do it, I can have it, and I can make it exciting, with an interactive help system and animated icons. YOU can GO WITH SOMEONE ELSE, that is your right. BUT you CANNOT say that you were not PRESENTED with the option to skip all that; to just DEVELOP WITH ME.

I await your decision. I will sit here and calmly wax my mustache. Please don't mind my son, D.W. He will be stepping out momentarily to procure a REDBULL.

NOW, what is for LUNCH?

Yes. There will be code. And there will be blood.

Dave
Just because I can...

Farewell Steve Irwin - Crocs Rule!

David Totzke — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 01:02:00 GMT

Crikey! That's no way to cark it.

In these days of vacuous, aeroplane blonde bimbos cavorting on screen for the benefit of the slack-jawed television viewer; in times when one trick pony Howie Mandell gets ANOTHER 15 minutes; at a point in history when the troll that is Tom Cruise IS SLEEPING WITH KATIE HOLMES!!!

Sorry. It just makes me mad as a cut snake.

Say what you will but Steve Irwin was a rare soul. He was a joyous Larrikin who was fit as a Mallee bull although some suspected there were Kangaroos loose in the top paddock.

Fame never went to his head. If anything, it renewed and strengthened his committement to wildlife.

I have a nagging suspicion that Steve's time was cut short; cut short 15 minutes at a time by the likes of the cast of Survivor and Big Brother All Stars. ( there's an oxy-moron for you )

From beyond the black stump to the back o'Bourke you brought the fascinating world of the reptile into our homes and we lived - if only vicariously - the way life was meant to be lived. Full on and flat out like a lizard drinking.

Onya mate.

Dave
Just because I can...( Translation available here )

You'll Never Guess

David Totzke — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 20:49:00 GMT

Ed Bott over on ZDNet was installing a new OS. Being an experienced techno-wonk he used the following steps to ensure a smooth installation:

I made sure I had a CD containing the latest released version, placed that CD in the drive, and restarted. The system detected the CD, launched the boot files, and allowed me to create a new partition to install the OS files.
I answered a few questions and then let the installation proceed automatically. After everything completed (well under an hour), I created a new user account and password and logged on.
The very first thing I saw was a pop-up balloon warning me that there were updates available. When I clicked that icon, the screen dimmed and a password dialog box appeared. I couldn’t continue or perform any other task until I entered the administrator password.
Even though I had installed the very latest version, I saw that there were 98 separate updates available, designed to “correct errors, eliminate security vulnerabilities and provide new features.” It took approximately a half-hour to download and install everything over my high-speed connection.
After the updates completed, I was warned that I had to restart the computer before all of the updates would be effective. So I did.
When I reached the desktop, I noticed that the system clock was off. I tried to adjust it and was greeted once again with the dimmed-out login screen where I was prompted to enter the administrator password.
I noticed that the display resolution was set to 1024x768, but when I tried to change it to my monitor’s actual resolution of 1280x1024, I discovered that the settings dialog box didn’t offer that option and there was no obvious way to tweak it.

So how many of you are screaming “F***ing Microsoft”, “F***ing Vista!!” I thought as much.

Click here for the full article and the shocking truth!

Dave
Just because I can...

Microsoft Doesn't Get Security??

David Totzke — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:22:00 GMT

Oh come on!

I haven't gone postal on anyone for a while and then this caught my eye.

Look Don, just because some first level extranet help desk person suggests that maybe you use some kind of memonic for your complex passwords does not mean that they are advocating poor security practices.

You gave an example of a password you wanted to use as “qKa5$KucX#lD”. Correct me if I am mistaken but I'm almost certain you don't memorize a password like that. And if you're even remotely similar to the rest of us, you probably have many usernames and passwords which makes it even more likely that you don't memorize them all. That means you record them somewhere which is arguably worse that having a weak password.

Nothing anyone does is ever fully secure. I mean, take a look at the problem they're having in France right now involving the Clearstream bank in Luxembourg.

Just pray that nothing you've ever written comes under the level of scrutiny as do Microsoft's products.

Get a friggin' life already.

Dave
Just because I can...

WiFi Train Blogger

David Totzke — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 20:30:00 GMT

Ok so it cost me about 10 bucks to make this post but I'm doing it from a VIA Rail train in the middle of nowhere. (Brampton, ON) [grin]

How frackin' cool is that?!?

Actually, the cost isn't all that bad. The 10 bucks is for a 24 hour period during which I can surf to my heart's content. The train ride from Toronto to Kitchener is only an hour and a half, but if I wanted to, I could hang around the train station looking at pr0n and making people feel uncomfortable.

I don't have to go into the Big City^tm that often but the train takes about the same amount of time as driving without all of the stop and go traffic, high blood pressure and road rage. I can actually turn the 3 hours of round-trip commute time into billable hours. “Aha“, you say. Finally he gets to the point. I didn't start out to make a point. That was an accident. Sorry about that.

Dave
Just because I can...(assuming of course that this bridge we're going over doesn't collapse plunging us into the icy river below)

Das Blonde and VS2005 Code Snippet Hell

David Totzke — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 20:43:00 GMT

First we had humour and now we have horror. Michele Leroux “that Indigo Girl” “das Blonde” “Stunt Musician” Bustamante (my God will you pick a personality already!) has a blog post about adding your own code snippets in VS2005.

It's a cautionary tale. Don't let this happen to you!

Dave
Just because I can...

Flashback!!

David Totzke — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 03:31:00 GMT

Come on people! I can't believe this didn't bring back memories for anyone. Not a single comment?

Dave
Just because I can...

Email From The Future

David Totzke — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 03:04:00 GMT

Arrrgh!

I have a hard enough time keeping up with the inundation of email in real time let alone messages arriving from the future.

ACK!

Dave
Just because I can...

BUWAHAHAHAHA...

David Totzke — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 13:06:00 GMT

Ravings of a Lunatic

Windows Live Writer

There Will Be Code

Farewell Steve Irwin - Crocs Rule!

You'll Never Guess

Microsoft Doesn't *Get* Security??

WiFi Train Blogger

Das Blonde and VS2005 Code Snippet Hell

Flashback!!

Email From The Future

BUWAHAHAHAHA...

Microsoft Doesn't Get Security??