November 2007 Archives

As I'm working through redesigning my wife's business site, I've been using it as an opportunity to build in some backend framework. Currently I'm deciding between implementing the Drupal CMS as the backend framework and using Drupal modules, or simply installing CakePHP and forgoing the content management system altogether.

And thanks to Web 2.0 and recent CSS work, the frameworks won't stop there. I will likely implement jQuery as the Javascript framework, and I'm eying the Blueprint CSS framework from Google as well.

While I'm sure getting up to speed in all of these frameworks will take a bit, I'm also sure that they will end up saving me development time in the future. I know some developers (especially CSS and PHP developers) are not thrilled with frameworks, but I believe this is a necessary evolution for web design.

As the web interface becomes increasingly complex, the "producers" of websites will need to find ways to leverage better tools to keep up with Web 2.0. To keep up with the increased capacity while maintaining an acceptable time to market, frameworks will continue to be essential.

For as long as I can remember we've had an IBM PC in the house. I grew up with an original PC-XT since I was 10 and eventually was building my own machines in my twenties. I loved to tinker, and building a computer from parts was akin to building a custom race car. But time passed, and I had less time and even less desire to tinker inside "the box".

A couple of years ago, we purchased my wife an iBook to do a better job of her voice recordings. I've been astonished over the that time how simple working wit a Mac was. While it is sometimes constraining, I really started to like her computer (and computer envy in any household is a definite no-no).

Then came the new MacBooks. I could have the best of both worlds! I could still run my Windows programs, but have a Mac too. So started my trek to Mac.

A couple of weeks ago, I pulled the trigger (once Leopard was announced). It made sense that if I was to start a new direction in my career, it made sense to start with a new computer!

With a couple weeks under my belt, I'm officially loving it. I can do almost everything I need, both work and play, from the same laptop. While I'm still adjusting to "open Apple" key, I really do enjoy the better quality of software and computing power. I'm running XP through Fusion, and it works very well.

While I'm pretty sure I'll run both for a long time, OSX and Mac fit my way of working much better these days.