Firefox 2.0 Woes

After reading a post on TechCrunch about the release of Firefox 2.0 Alpha, I thought I'd check it out. No harm in testing a developer's release, right? Or so I thought. It turned out that it was only compatible with 1 of my 39 extensions (as of 1:00 PM EST today, excluding the DOM Inspector), that being BugMeNot, which is especially unuseful compared to some of my more vital extensions. So I decided that it would be best for me to wait for the final release. I go to uninstall it from the Add/Remove Programs utility, and apparently there's some misconfigured registry key or something that's preventing me from uninstalling it.

So, using System Restore, I revert my system to the squeaky-clean, un-Firefox2.0a'd way it was last night. Everything seems to be in order.

So, I'm finally back into 1.5.0.1. But when I launch the browser, none of my extensions are working! The extensions probably still think that it's using 2.0 and are therefore incompatible even though I'm actually using 1.5.

So after 3 1/2 hours, unnecessary stress, and tons of aggravation, I finally realize that from the downgrade back to 1.5.0.1, the extensions were left disabled (!), which is why they weren't working. This is terrible usability practice and something I hope they fix in the upcoming and future versions. It just goes to show you that all developers -- myself included -- should always make sure that the experience for their users is a positive one, otherwise users will become frustrated and dislike, or even distrust your product, even if it was unintentional on your part. Always make sure you follow good usability guidelines! :)

After re-enabling them all everything was (thankfully) back to the way it used to be.

Usability Links:

Jakob Nielsen's Website - www.useit.com Technorati Tags: Firefox, Usability

Creativity Blog is Live

I didn't want to post this until I had some content posted up yet, but I guess it'll survive, plus I'll also be posting in it more often so it's a good idea to put it out in the open where everyone can see it.

So, as part of my Exploring Creativity course, I am required to keep a creativity journal. This journal can be anything, from a composition book to a 3-ring binder to a pad of post-it notes. However I've decided to use a blog as my record of ideas and inspiration, mainly for two reasons: firstly, I'm almost always near a computer, which makes posting my thoughts easily accessible; and secondly, the internet is such a great medium. It's so rich and free, and it in itself is a byproduct of creativity, so why not?

You can find my creativity journal at http://creativityblog.wordpress.com. I've decided to use Wordpress because it's a lot cleaner in terms of templates, navigation, etc., and I like its overall structure. Sure I can't hack the template or anything (yet), but I'd say it serves its purpose, so why bother? Don't fix what ain't broken. ...If I gets any better over there I may even have to move this blog over there. It's a lot nicer over there, and since Blogger's a novice's tool (no offense) and doesn't really offer that many features, I'm sort of considering it, but not until they let me hack the template ;p (or some other really good reason), but I still think Movable Type's the best out of all of them since it's the most versatile and hackable.

• Read my Creativity blog to see what kinds of things I'm thinking

Technorati Tags: blogging, creativity

Past Due: Tech TV Holiday Meetup

I know this is way overdue but please forgive me. I promise to post more often in the future and from now on.

The Tech TV Holiday Meetup was a blast! I finally had a chance to meet with my favourite TechTV and IPTV hosts, including Leo Laporte and Andy Walker. among others [PHOTO]. And I'm a really huge fan of Call For Help and TWiT, you could probably imagine how excited I was. :D

Here are some photos along with links to more of them.

www.flickr.com

• All my photos from the meetup.
• Toronto Tech Meetups Flickr group.

Technorati Tags: tech tv, tech tv holiday meetup, holiday, meetup

Social Software Usage to Boom with Flock Browser

There's nothing better than having all your del.icio.us bookmarks, blogging, flickr photos, and Firefox conveniently packaged all in one place. Well, now, thanks to the new FLOCK browser, you can have all this and much more. Here are the goods:

• Online bookmarking, so you can access all your bookmarked sites from virtually anywhere share them with everyone around the world
• Tagging: jumping onto the folksonomy bandwagon, Flock adds del.icio.us' tagging capability so that you can categorize sites as you would blog posts
• Flickr: in a convenient hideable dock at the top of your window, you can preview your and other users' flickr photos with a single click of your mouse.
• Blogging: also in that dock you've got your blog editor, you can quickly log into your blog and start blogging right away. Plus, with the useful Drag-and-drop feature, blogging it is even easier. Also, an added bonus for Blogger users: Flock's blog posting automatically notifies Technorati and allows you to specify tags your post would fall under, which is something blogger never let you do before.
• Multiple bookmarks bars: Now, you're not just stuck with one bookmarks toolbar. by making "collections" of bookmarks, you can create custom toolbars to fit your needs. Have
• And, my favourite of all, Firefox!: Since Flock uses the same source code as the Mozilla Firefox browser, it is compatible with many of its themes and extensions, as well as providing the great browsing experience you'd get if you were actually using Firefox
• Improved RSS reader: As opposed to Firefox's drop-down Rss, Flock sports a much more elegant RSS reader, comparable to that of Apple's Safari browser.

I tell ya, you gotta love open source :)

Definitely, Flock is a social browser that is sure to last, just as soon as it comes out of beta and all its bugs fixed (the public release is expected to come out by the end of the month), but i don't mind using the pre-release version. It's still great!

So, you ready? Download Flock and make your web experience even better. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: flock, browser

Mac your PC

Ever wanted to have the sleek sophistication and style of a Mac, but still maintain the compatibility of windows?

Well, you're in luck, because with the help of a couple files you can skin your PC to look like OS X. You've got a couple of options:

Firstly, Engadget has posted an article on how to skin your PC. The only downside to this is you've gotta download each of the programs individually, which is tedious and time-consuming. Either way, you can read the article & download the apps here.

Or, if you're in a hurry and would rather download a single file that does all of this (and looks slightly better, as far as the Apple Menubar is concerned), you can download FlyaKite OS X [click download; right now the Flyakite website doesn't seem to be working].

Then again, you could just buy a Mac and use Virtual PC...

Technorati Tags: hacks, pc+themes, flyakiteosx

Updates for Updates

I just added a "Blogs" section to my blog sidebar, featuring a list of links to other worthwhile blogs (I initially never did like the word blogroll). This part also includes an area for Call For Help and links to all the hosts' blogs. Like del.icio.us, this blog just keeps getting updated with more and better features. More to come!

Speaking of which, you should see the cool new features social bookmarking network del.icio.us has. Now there's a new header navigation bar with a new layout and a text box that allows you to type in the name of the tag you're looking for instead of having to go to the location bar in your browser. This element is very handy, especially when you're in fullscreen mode and you don't want to have to tediously toggle back and forth just to change the tag name.

Technorati Tags: updates, del.icio.us

Del.icio.us Changes Bundle Interface

The social bokmarking manager del.icio.us has updated their tag bundles interface.

Now, instead of trying to remember the names of tags you want to bundle, just simply click on the tag name listed in front of you. Resembling that of their posting screen, this new feature and better improves the site's usability and effiency. I'm sure many del.icio.us users are happy to have this convenience.

you can visit my del.icio.us page at del.icio.us/gabrielm3.

Technorati Tags: del.icio.us