XML

Food Areas - This is a test to determine how different browsers parse XML+CSS. There's no HTML or XHTML here; this is pure XML. There's even a qualified schema. Firefox and IE do better than Safari, which annoys me to no end. As an amusing bonus, the contents of the XML file provide a review of some of Downtown Portland's lunchtime eateries -- by none other than Earlobe and Ronnie.

Here's two more simple tests in XML -- the second uses a mix of block and inline styles, and the output really varies from browser to browser.

Firefox users will note that the list item numbers in the second test are mistakingly all set to zero. Safari works fine and correctly labels the steps with a 1 and 2. A rare bug in Firefox...

Ruby + Rails

There are many ways to build a dynamic, database-driven site these days. It's the wave of yesteryear.

The wave of the future is in dynamic sites being built with smart, cross-platform frameworks like Rails. The Ruby on Rails method and framework take all of the pain out of dealing with database connectivity and cross-browser compatibility. You can concentrate on the site and the data itself, and leave the details to Rails.

For example, here's my example "Online Cookbook" project built with Rails. I happen to be using the Apache web server and a MySQL database on Linux, but this same exact code could run on a Windows 2003 Server with ISS and Oracle, or a Mac OS X server with Apache. That's the beauty of Rails -- write the code once, and have an easy time doing it at that.

My AJAX on Rails demo shows [only the tiniest view of] what the latest version of Rails can do -- Rails added full AJAX support in late 2004. Now you can use the same JavaScript tricks that sites like Flickr, Google Maps, and Google Suggest are using, without even worrying about the particulars of each browsers' handling of JavaScript.

Here's a big secret. This whole site is built on Rails.

API Hacks

There's been a lot of talk recently in the geek world about the "remixing" of various existing technologies into new, morphed online entities and services. We're just now realizing some of the ideas that are possible with the near-instantaneous sharing of digital information.

Some of the more avant-garde technological organizations like Google and Flickr -- among countless others I won't name here -- are beginning to realize they stand to gain from sharing their technology with talented digital artisans who can reshape and remix the content and tools to offer exciting new digital experiences.

There are some obvious examples of what can happen when companies reach out to the geek community:

Google Maps API + Craigslist RSS feeds = HousingMaps

Flickr API + [one brilliant programmer!] = Flickr Graph

I am just starting to dabble in both API's. My very rudimentary Google Maps hack is just a hint of what can be thrown together in a few hours. And my "pics" page is powered by the Flickr API!