Firefox 2.0 Released

Although it was released late in the afternoon/evening of October 24th, 2006, I still felt it important to mention it for those that weren't aware of the new release of this awesome web browser. Some of the highlights of this new version include:

• A refreshed user interface (in both graphic and option layout)
• More flexible and intuitive Tabbed browsing management
• Anti-phising/scam protection features
• The ability to read RSS feeds as live bookmarks, or subscribe a RSS feed to their favorite aggregator
• Inline spell checking

For more information on the Firefox 2.0 version, view the Release Notes.

As always, you can also download this web browser on any platform for free by visiting the Firefox web site.

Edit: This post was originally posted on October 25th, 2006 at approximately 8:06am. It was reposted on October 31st, 2006 around 11:15pm, when I noticed the original post was no longer showing.

Technical Professional Development – Part III: The Product

I have completed the primary work for my TDP, and it is now viewable live and in color at TransBat.Com The site will sport a “pink” color scheme till November 1^st to help promote breast cancer awareness. While I had hoped to have this project completed earlier, I am very pleased with its results.

This endeavor was a challenge to my traditional way of creating web sites. It forced me to recode my entire content from scratch and without thinking about any design aspect. In the past, I would spend hours, if not days hard coding a structure in HTML, perfecting/designing all the graphics, and then adjusting my existing content's code into the resulting design as best I could. Not only is this process tedious, it forced me to constantly remake graphical and coding adjustments that would destroy what had once looked pristine. For those who aren't as familiar with the web design process, suffice it to say that my old method of coding was akin to trying to shove a square peg into a round hole.

With Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) now doing the design work, creating new graphics was significantly more enjoyable, and layout issues were simply a matter of adding, modifying, or removing a simple style sheet rule. Once you get behind the principles of CSS, its amazing what you can do!

Let me recap in a nutshell what I did for this project:

• Read the book: Head First HTML & CSS

• Recoded my entire site's content, and the knowledge portals' content from scratch using standard's compliant XHTML 1.0.

• Sketched a rough draft on paper of what I wanted my knowledge portals and my main site to look like.

• Created two rough style sheets (one for my main site, the other for the knowledge portals) to shape my content the appropriate way.

• Created new graphics for my web sites.

• Created two final style sheets that included my new graphics, giving the entire site a much more polished, professional, and fun layout.

• Created two additional style sheet templates and two small sets of graphic for my main site that would allow me to demonstrate how a simple change of a style sheet could dramatically alter the look of my site consistently throughout the site.

• Tested the final product in multiple browser platforms to ensure consistency (within the confines of how browsers determine and interpret CSS).

Since most of this jargon won't mean much unless you've spent many hours coding and designing websites, here's a simple comparison of the final product:

Edit: I have fixed the few incorrect links below, and all should now be properly viewable. Sorry for any confusion/inconvenience! - Bryan

Main Site New Version: http://www.transbat.com/
Previous Version: http://www.transbat.com/v6/ and http://www.transbat.com/v6/main.shtml

Knowledge Portals New Site: http://education.transbat.com/ and http://podcast.transbat.com/
Previous Versions: http://education.transbat.com/v1/ and http://podcast.transbat.com/v1/

I have also tested out my how my new sites behave in the following major web browsers: Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.7 (and now 2.0.0), Internet Explorer 6.0, Safari, and Camino. I am happy to report that other than a small rendering bug with IE 6.0, my site appears identical in almost all aspects...the first time that has EVER happen. Needless to say, I'm pleased with the results, and I welcome any comments to suggestions on the project.

Edit: This post was originally posted on October 23rd, 2006 at approximately 9:15pm. It was reposted on October 31st, 2006 around 11:15pm, when I noticed the original post was no longer showing. It was also updated to reflect testing in Firefox version 2.0.

Collaboration and Web 2.0 Applications

I'm sure that some of us have dabbled in a few of the Web 2.0 applications. For anyone that hasn't, you're missing out on some really cool items from the Internet that could revolutionize the way we work as individuals and how we collaborate with our peers.

Here's a quick overview of what I've been playing with:

Google Docs and Spreadsheets : http://docs.google.com/
Article from SlashDot about the merger/combination of Writely and Google Spreadsheets

For anyone that have been using Writely you might have noticed that it now takes you to a new site for Google Docs and Spreadsheets. Google (who had been the driving force behind Writely as best I recall) has now merged their Document Writer and Spreadsheet function into one neat little area. Using these two applications is very similiar to using a version of MS Office 97 or above, and the ability to edit, open, and save your MS Office styled documents and OpenOffice.org (my preferred Office Suite) is very handy. The ability to make PDF files of your documents is a sweet bonus that I think most will enjoy!

While there are still some compatibility issue, its definitely a great start toward the online virtual office. You will need a Google/Gmail account to login though, so if any of you need an invite, I'll be happy to toss you one.

Zoho Virtual Office: http://www.zoho.com/
Zoho Virtual Office truly aims to be a full fledged replacement for your desktop's Office Suite. Individual applications include:

• ZohoWriter: Word Processor
• ZohoSheet: Spreadsheets
• ZohoShow: Presentation Creator
• ZohoPlanner: An online planner and organizer.
• ZohoChat: A Chat client to help with collaboration between your peers.

It's free to sign-up for any/all of these services for the duration of the Beta, and its rumored they will remain free after that. I haven't gotten a full chance to try out each application, but these programs are slick, very user friendly, and definitely have me psyched about the possibiliy of a ready to go AJAX/Web 2.0 application and office suite.

They also include a very neat tool/option for small businesses and individuals called the Zoho Virtual Office, which acts a lot like your own desktop area to launch any of the previously mentioned Zoho Office programs, a calendar, scheduling items, a work space, and more. It appears that you can sign-up and use the Beta version of the Virtual Office for free as well, but from what I've read it's quite possible that a small charge would be assessed after it leaves the Beta, at least for small businesses, and possibly for individuals as well. I've signed-up to be included in the Beta Test, and hope to hear back on it soon.

Closing Thoughts

While these products are still in a Beta stage and need further refinement, the days of the online virtual Office might be closer than we think. For the grand price of FREE, you can now create, share, and edit your favorite Office style documents and not have to worry (at least not much) about Microsoft Office Compatibility and the expensive headache of licensing their products. The only caveat is that to use these products, you require a constant Internet connection. Given the nature of free/public WiFi now available, this limitation in most cases won't be a huge deterrent.

For now, I still think most will desire to have their standard Office Suite of choice to be installed locally on their computer's hard drive. As for me, I'm gonna try to spend my time trying out these fun new ideas and methods of collaboration.

Technical Professional Development – Part II: The Contract

I have now developed my learning contract for my Technical Professional Development plan. I welcome any comments, questions, and suggestions on it.

My Learning Contract

Paradigm Examples

Behaviorism:

Behavorism can be defined as "an approach to psychology based on the proposition that behavior can be studied and explained scientifically without recourse to internal mental states." - Wikipedia.com

Simply stated, the behaviorism theory believes that learning occurs when associations are made between stimulus and response. By starting with simple concepts, one can build upon pre-existing knowledge and gain a mastery over the information presented.

Flood: http://pbskids.org/lions/wolf/flood2.html

This simple (and slightly long to load) game from the PBS.org website teaches children how to form associations between various words or themes by having them organized into groups of three books to be placed on a shelf. The game's concept: the library is flooding, and we must get all of our books onto a shelf, organized by a concurrent theme. The learner is presented with 5 books at a time, but only 3 books can fit on shelf. The learner must then chose the books that have a common theme and place them on a shelf. A hint system can help guide learners should they become lost or confused. The game starts out simple (matching numbers), but then the challenges get progressively harder in this 100+ round game! With positive reinforcement from a cute (if slightly annoying) narrating mouse, the game is definitely fun, although perhaps a bit repetitive on the later levels.

Cognitivism:

Cognitivism can be defined as “a theoretical approach to understanding the mind, which argues that mental function can be understood by quantitative, positivist and scientific methods, and that such functions can be described as information processing models.” - Wikipedia.com

Jigsaw Sudoku: http://www.jigsawdoku.com/

While most are familiar with the craze of Sudoku and its rise to fame, the effects on cognitive ability, learning, and retention are now being studied, at least to some degree. Apparently one's lifestyle can have a direct impact on our cognitive abilities and their retention even into old age. - American Society on Aging

This online variant of Sudoku allows you to chose the type of tile to solve (numbers, pictures, letters), various puzzle sizes, and difficulty level. Perhaps Sudoku will begin to be hailed as a mental improvement exercise, instead of a pastime your boss will yell at you for!

Lost in Space...

I'm not sure how many of you are utilizing Blogger.com for your personal/class blog, but I've been having some difficulty with the new Blogger BETA. I upgraded my account because it made making changes to your blogs structure and components slick and easy, thanks to some Web 2.0 application magic. But now as a result, I will post an item, and sometimes it shows up, only to disappear later, or doesn't show up it, and takes 2-3 tries for it to “stick” and be viewable. I am also concerned that I might have lost comments that some of my peers have left.

I guess just consider this a warning. Most of the time, the Blogger BETA works very well, and is quite fun and easy to use for novices and advanced users alike. To make sure I don't lose any postings, I have decided to keep a simple “back-up” document that contains the text of my postings. Not only does this make it easy to recover “lost” posts, it helps encourage me to write down entries for my Blog even if I don't have Internet access at the time. Just thought I'd share this experience with you, and let you know you might want to keep a “back-up” copy of your blog, just in case...

Technical Professional Development – Part I: The Idea

Overview: Develop a working knowledge of HTML 4.0 and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) 2.0 to produce full, W3c standards compliant web sites based on strict XHTML 1.0 coding and CSS 2.0 stylesheets.

Rationale: A discussion from a class I had during Spring 2006 with Dr. Ferdig (Educational Technology and the Teacher) led to the notion that while many of our peers have websites, most had not considered usability or accessibility guidelines for our audiences. The discussion made me wonder how hard it would be to create a standards compliant site that would not only be aesthetically pleasing, but provide the best opportunity for a member to enjoy the site's content as intended while still conforming for basic accessibility guidelines for user's with various disabilities.

The Problem: I have NEVER been formally trained in HTML! I've had a basic knowledge of HTML skills and table usage that I've put cobbled together over the past couple years. And sure, the site is viewable, and the content is there for any audience member to explore who drops by my personal website: TransBat.Com. However, the site NEVER looks the same between the different web browsers (Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, Opera). I read that CSS helped make web sites vary less in their appearance, and thus tried to incorporate (pronounced hacked and slashed) some CSS style into my pages. Alas, this didn't yield much success.

My personal website is a source of much joy to me, but posting content on it has been constant source of frustration because I never know if what I post will provide the presentation I want for my audience. Combined with the fact that I am now archiving and building my professional development portals and information on my site, I desperately want to have a presentation layout, style, and user-interface that is pleasing to the eye, and easily accessible for my family and peers.

If I were able to learn these skills, it would be of great benefit to some future projects and endeavors that I hope to begin soon in regards to online instruction and the integration of podcasting into face-to-face and distance learning.

I decided to peruse the web searching for some type of book/guide that would help me grasp the concepts from my dated knowledge of HTML and send me towards the future web design and creation utilizing a harmonious blend of XHTML and CSS. I found a book that I believe will suffice quite nicely:

Head First: HTML with CSS & XHTML | Amazon Book Link | SlashDot

I'll post some on this topic once I've fleshed it out enough to create a contract for the goals of my Technological Professional Development plan.

Synthesizing ID's Psychology and Epistemology (Chapters 4 & 6)

Thanks to the suggestion of my classmates, I was introduced to a cool graphic creator and organizer named Gliffy (http://www.gliffy.com/). To help me better synthesize my learning, I have created a graphic representation of my thoughts on the topics of importance from these two chapters. Let me know if you have any trouble viewing the image:

Just in case the small thumbnail on the right doesn't show the full-sized image when you click on it, here's a direct to the file in a .jpg or .png format:

Ch4,Ch6 Synthesis (JPG)
Ch4,Ch6 Synthesis (PNG)

Back in the Groove...

I'm sorry for the lack of postings over the past couple weeks gang. Significant changes in my life have occurred over the past few weeks. Highlights include: a new full-time job with different skill requirements and chances for learning, and moving my girlfriend to South Florida to teach a 4^th grade elementary classroom. That had pretty much absorbed my life, but I'm back on track, and ready to move on through ID and see what it holds in store for all of us.

Expect a rampant flow of postings to this blog, and then responses to your thoughts in the very near future!