Month: December 2003

from html to xforms

The HTML4 form semantics are extended with new types, new attributes for defining constraints, new DOM interfaces for validation, and new events for dependency tracking. A repeating model is introduced for declarative repeating of form sections. Mechanisms for XML submission and initialization of forms are added to the form submission model. HTML4, XHTML1.1 and the DOM are thus extended in a manner which has a clear migration path from existing HTML forms, leveraging the knowledge authors have built up with their experience with HTML so far.

this seems like a sane migration path to the xforms promised land without throwing away billions of $ of html forms investment.

Beyond Brochureware

Attorneys in small and medium-size practices are discovering that the Internet is an essential medium for nurturing their businesses in an online world. From simply being visible on popular search engines like Google, to offering valuable online information and resources, more law firms are using the Web as a powerful and economical marketing, productivity, communication, and even service delivery tool. At this seminar you’ll learn from other attorneys with hands-on experience about how to increase the value of your practice with a resource-rich website. You don’t need any special computer skills or background to enjoy and derive real value from this practical, business-oriented presentation.

let me know if you are interested to attend.

consulting times on oss dev

Open Source development provides us with a way to use our existing talents and skills while increasing our productivity. Many people with whom I work consider this development model as mainstream. I experienced personal growth as a result of my involvement with Open Source projects and find it as acceptable at a cocktail part as working as an auditor for a major accounting firm.

eep. i am not sure auditing is all that accepted, but then again i am trying to unlearn my 5 years of KPMG 🙂 good intro article though.

6 sagittarians

i woke up this morning at 6:00, on a couch too short for my frame. 3.5h of sleep notwithstanding, i felt quite tired, but this was the day of the seminar. the seminar i had dropped the ball on during apachecon. the seminar that i had spent the day before anxiously preparing, repeatedly screwing up over the course of a 15h workday. what seminar you are asking?

Wyona and QUOIN are partnering to offer your department a one-day workshop on Content Management with Apache Lenya. This is an
opportunity to gain valuable hands-on skills and receive coaching from
experienced Lenya developers. Our approach is to build an example site
that takes advantage of the advanced authoring and publishing
capabilities of the framework. Participants will learn important design
and implementation techniques that can be applied on their own projects.
Wyona and QUOIN are strong supporters of open source content management.
We focus on Apache Lenya as a platform for our consulting and product
development efforts because it provides a robust, powerful, and
standards-compliant solution. The purpose of the workshop is to help
build a local user community for Apache Lenya, and to share our
experience in using this platform.
Gregor J. Rothfuss
General Manager, Wyona
Brad Kain
President, QUOIN

so yes, i step out of the apartment, and sure enough, first snow. and, as always, utter chaos on the road. what to do? i decided to jog from arlington to porter square given that a seminar without a presenter does not sell too many consulting gigs. 20min into the jog, i still had not been passed by a bus. no wonder with the total traffic jam. it was actually a nice, brisk early morning exercise. the road was totally flat, a thin snow cover cushioned my steps way better than nike airs would have, and the slow or nonexistent driving exuded peace. granted no one was feeling the love, and many loiterers in bus stops i passed had a curious expression indeed.
i made it to the seminar only 1h late, and people started to trickle in shortly afterwards. my misfortune with the cute little cd-roms that would not work with contemporary drives was quickly resolved by the unexpected harvard.edu connectivity, and i got going. never mind my totally insufficient preparation, i managed to entertain and educate my audience over the course of the next 8 hours. which was a utter surprise to me.
hi to all my online friends who added an extra element of comic relief by chatting me up during my seminar. their popups graced the big screen. best in show goes to doug for his “hey i found your coat” message that actually drew laughter from the crowd.
i hit the john harvard brew pub with william afterwards. sure enough, we ran into a pocket of sagittarians that took us under their wings to celebrate the deep astrological bonds we share. free beer, yay. amen.

harpers facelift

congrats paul for a job well done! when we met last saturday, paul left before midnight, mentioning that he had “work to do.” now you know why 🙂

Harper’s is built upon a Semantic Web framework – albeit a primitive one. I’ve written about what the Semantic Web is, and why it matters before, if you’re curious, so I won’t rehash that here. Using this framework, Harper’s is divided into 2 parts: narrative content, like the Features and the Weekly Review, and a taxonomy (or ontology, depending on your preferred term), called Connections.

Design of future spaces

As networking and computing become ubiquitous and increasingly part of our built environments, physical and virtual components start to merge in many ways, leading to radically new typologies in architecture: interconnected environments for learning, praying, courting, playing, working and diplomacy.

talk by Jeffrey Huang
Associate Professor
Department of Architecture

i hope to have lunch with jeffrey soon, we have been trying for 2 months now 🙂