aaaaaah so today i woke up to a two tone sound, quite loud, and it turned out to be the fire alarm, at 7 in the morning *SCREAAAAAAAAAAMS* was in my flipping boxxers and had to get up, get dressed and get outside in the quickist time possible, but also not forgetting my room key so i can get in the door. i am soooooo tired i have only had about 4 hours sleep, and i will tell you this, it don’t feel to hot!!

It’s been a while since i posted here, been off at uni, having the time of my life, goin to the clubs, getting pissed outta my head, and then playing pool at rileys.

had some really great nights, and some quality laughs.

Anyway the course is great, only 7 of us. And i have been elected Class Rep, so i have some extra dutys. but i’m up for it.

Will keep posting here form now on.

Peace out!!

Aahh the day is getting ever nearer, i’m off to uni in 2 days.

i have pretty much everything i need, just got a few bits and bobs to get my finished off. all my computer stuff is ready (apart from a lock). my bike needs fixing (simple enough) and i could do with a new pair of jeans. Then all i gotta do is pack.

Luckly for me my dad is well respected in the IT Community and we are pretty well off. And my parents are paying for my Accomodation fee’s. So with the loan i am getting for my tution fee’s (£3000 per anum) and living fee’s (£3300 per anum) i get a total loan amount of about £20,000 which i have to pay back. But as i was in a public school, where the fee’s where £10,000 a year, my parents will pay in £3,000 every year into an ISA, the same time my tutions fee’s go to the uni, and the intrest rate on that is high than the intrest rate on the loan, so that should knock about £10,000 off my loan a little less to pay is always good.

Anyway i shall post some images when i get there so you can all see where i’m living.

Yeah thats right, 1 week till i leave for Uni. have to been there on the wednesday, but seeing as how the drive is like 6 hours we are staying over night in a hotel. lets hope it is better than last times one.

It’s also today that me and my girlfriend have been going out 17 months, quite suprising as we live over 50miles away from each other by car, and about 33 miles by train. it takes just over an hour for one of us to get to the other, but we have made it work so far, so i hoep we can make it work whilst we are at uni, i know i want to, and i’m pretty sure she does. we will just see how things go and i hope for the best.

Right, there have been a lot of post recently on various forums, asking users which browser is better.. I think it’s about time someone test’s about 6 of the main browsers on various platforms, seeing as how i own a windows and Mac based computer I’m going to give it a shot, luckily I also know a few things about browsers. So I can give a report on what is the best of the best…

Alright so what browsers are going to be tested. Simple answer would be; IE6, IE7, Firefox1.5, Firefox2beta2, Opera and Shiira (Mac based web-kit engine). Right so those are the browsers. Now to make the tests as fair as possible. Opera, Firefox2Beta2 and IE7 will all be tested on the same computer, and IE6 and Firefox1.5 will be tested on another computer and Shirra tested on a Mac.

What are the tests going to involve, well simply the Acid2 test (more on that later), GUI, HUI and features and speed/memory.

Acid2 Test

Right so the Acid2 test, most of you common web users won’t know what this is. so i will firstly inform you of what it is, and what the test shows.

Acid2 is a test case designed by the Web Standards Project to identify web page rendering flaws in browsers and authoring tools.

Acid2 employs certain features of HTML and, more prominently, CSS. The purpose of employing such features is to highlight the problems with browsers that do not display it correctly. The Acid2 test should render correctly on any browser that follows the W3C HTML and CSS 2.0 specifications. Any browsers which do not correctly and completely support all of the features which Acid2 takes advantage of will not render the page correctly.

If rendered correctly, Acid2 will appear as a smiley face in the user’s browser, with the nose turning blue when moused over. At the time of the test’s release, no browsers could render Acid2 correctly but now at least five released applications pass the test by rendering it correctly.

Opera:

Opera is one of the five browsers which pass’s the test. although there is a slight error, if you move the scroll wheel whilst viewing the page, the test page moves up and down, which is the first error, but two lines of the test also stay in there position, as if they were fixed, which is the second error, but the pass is good enough for me, and it is approved.

Firefox 2 Beta 2:

Well Mozilla have been making gradual efforts to have their browsers pass the Acid2 test, but it is unclear when this will take place. The delay is due to fundamental architecture work that has to be done to the Gecko rendering engine to support the changes that Acid2 requires. It’s unlikely that an end-user release that supports Acid2 will appear before 2007. Even though it doesn’t pass, the gecko engine is very good for web standards, and displays nearly everything as it should.

IE7:

IE7 flops this test, it’s worse than IE6 in fact. Seriously it’s just a BIG mess. and is really poor. Microsoft say openly that it is not there primary focuses.

Firefox 1.5:

Displays exactly the same as Firefox 2 Beta 2.

IE6:

IE6 is a tad wrong as well. it displays parts better than IE7, but then it’s visa versa as well.. Microsoft just give the message to everyone that they don’t care.

Shiira:

Shiira pass the Acid2 test just like opera, and it seams to have that same problem, maybe it isn’t a problem after all

GUI And HUI

Right so down to this.. in this section i will be looking as to how the Browsers look from a clean install, no extensions or themes. and how the browser reacts to clicks, and where buttons are placed etc..

Opera:

Opera is a fantastic looking browser, it looks so clean. and it’s refreshing, every time i open it i just fall in love with it a little bit more. The guys behind Opera have done a lot of work on this, and you can tell, the icons look really funky, and the tabbed browsing is spot on. if by mistake you close your browser with tabs open, when re-opened it will go back to that page, so it is probably the most advanced tabbed browsing out there. There are a few things i don’t like about it, and that’s that there is no ‘Go’ button, and that is something which i think is important, although there aren’t as many old or new users using the net as there are users with experience, you still have to cater for everyone, and some people may not know that you can press the enter (Return) button to go to that page you just typed in. And to a user who has just come from using IE6, the will proably go back to it if they don’t know you can use enter. The other thing is the place of the home page, at first it’s a weird place to have it, but very interesting and gets rid of some clutter, so it isn’t to bad.

Firefox 2 Beta 2:

Firefox 2 Beta 2 is very refreshing, and the default this is defiantly an improvement to the one supplied in Firefox 1.5. The icons are nice, and placed in the traditional places, and the all important go button is there, but does look a little bit out of place with the grey lining around it and the same goes for the search button. Firefox has also improved there tabs. With an X for close on the side of each tab, so the user doesn’t have to move the mouse all the way to the right to close a tab.

IE7:

IE7 is designed for the new Vista OS. I’m not a great fan of the Aero look, and thus i don’t like the icons, but that is down the personal opinion. It looks very different to the standard IE6 that most of us have seen for the past 6 years, and by default my menu bar was turned off, don’t know if this was just me, but i have to say that’s a bad move from Microsoft, people don’t like change after they have used the same thing for 6 years. I also don’t like the way the refresh and stop button are on the other side of the address bar from the back and forward button. IE7 see’s a new thing for IE6 users, and that’s tabbed browsing, there system is pretty neat, and works well, has everything you need. I’m still disappointed with Microsoft, they still call Bookmarks, Favorites. The bookmark is to keep a note of a page that you visit often, you don’t have to like it, and some people i know despise IE for this, as it is just so ironic when you bookmark the inland revenue site.

Firefox 1.5:

Firefox is quite plain at first, and it has every thing you need, it’s a refreshing change from IE6. It has some well designed icons, and the all important go button is then and fits in well. it comes standard with a search bar as most browsers do as well. Firefox’s tabbed browsing isn’t so good in this version, it’s still pretty good but is improved a lot in the next version.

IE 6:

IE6’s GUI isn’t actually that bad, and it works well with the user, everything you need is there, apart from a search bar and tabbed browsing.

Shiira:

Shiira looks really good, it’s very simplistic and everything just blends well together. Same problem as Opera though, no go button. The tabs in Shiira are good, they have the close button on each tab, and they blend well into the default theme.

Features

Alright, in this section i will be looking at what each browser has under the hood, and what it can do.

Opera:

It has a built in BitTorrent downloader, so no need for that other app. Content Blocker, very good if you come across a dodgy site you don’t like and want to block some images or the whole page. Add your favourite search engines to it’s search engine box (google by default). Thumbnail preview, it is easy to have many tabs open at once in opera, but exactly which tab had that video you wanted? hover your mouse on any tab to see a thumbnail preview. Edit the site preferences, good if you want to block pop ups or deny cookies. Widgets, basically games. built in transfer and password manager, mouse gestures and loads more.

Firefox 2 Beta 2:

Firefox is pretty plain when you first open it, you got a search bar, which is default google, but can be changed to 6 other search engines including ebay amazon and yahoo. There are over 1734 add-ons for firefox, and there is bound to be at least 20 you can make use off. You can also change the way firefox looks, and there are over 200 themes for firefox, some of them are very nice It also has built-in phishing protection which is also nice. The tabbed browsing is improved from the last version. Resume your browsing session which is much like opera’s and every browser should have it. it can also handle web feeds, there is even an in-built spell checker.

IE7:

Microsoft have added something called the favorites centre, which is basically a gloiyfied bookmarks tool. You got RSS feeds, tabbed browsing, quick tabs, tab groups, and page zoom which is ok. you got a phising fileter, activeX Opt-in, delete browsing history (don’t see how microsoft came up with this being a feature) parental controls, add-ons disabled mode, and a few others which make no sense.

Firefox 1.5:

Firefox has pretty much the same as firefox 2 beta 2, with just a few exceptions, all the main things like add-ons and themes are in there. A lot of people complain about firefox and the large amounts of memory it uses, but this is actually a feature, within a season if you visit a few pages, and decided to go back to the first one, firefox will remember what the page looked like and will load the page from the cache, and thus load re-visted pages faster. no other browser does this, and thus the large amounts of memory consumed, this can be sorted either in the preferences panel, or by simply closing the browser once you have finished using it.

IE6:

It’s pretty poor for features, no search bar or anything, best thing you get is the exit button.

Shirra:

Shiira’s features are pretty much the same as Safari’s, the tabbed browsing is very flexible, Shiira also takes advantage of Cocoa programming to provide users with a customizable drawer extending from the left or right of the window. The drawer contains bookmarks (which launch based on a user-programmed preference of one or two clicks), history, downloads (to avoid cluttering the screen with additional download windows), a unique page holder to access myriad links while surfing other sites, and an RSS reader. In the upcoming 2.x versions, the sidebar will be replaced by a series of palletes opened and closed from the main window toolbar. Shiira natively supports in-browser PDF viewing. The browser is of comparable stability and speed to Safari, making it among the fastest and most functional browsers for users of Mac OS X.

Speed and memory usage

Alright, now i am going to set my homepage as google uk, and i will open the browser and type in ‘bob’s your uncle’ and go to the first page, and then back to the home page via the home button, each test will be timed and obviously there is a lot riding on me in this, but you know, just some rough figures. i shall also check to see how much memory each app is using whilst this is undertaken.

Opera:

this took 13 seconds because of the tricky home button, 18,308k memory usage.

Firefox 2 beta 2:

this took 7 seconds, and the memory usage was 23,548k

IE7:

11 seconds, 29,500k

Firefox 1.5:

8 seconds, 19,420k

IE6:

a mear 6 seconds, and 14,668k

Shiira:

7 seconds, 19,050k

Evaluation

So what does this all mean, well each browser is good at something, but not all good at everything, so when choosing which browser is right for you, you have compromise. But what i ask everyone who reads, is not to use Microsoft Internet Exporer. For my as a web designer/developer, it really piss’s me off, and for to long it has been the market leader, the dominant web browser, but why, compared to the other browsers there is nothing great about it, every other browser can do more than it. So choose either Opera or Firefox, they are truly great browser and they both continue to improve.

Do remember that it depends on your computer specifications and set up, as to wether or not this browsers perform the same way they do on my computer.

If anyone has any other tests they wish for me to do, or any other browsers (If it’s the IE engine then i won’t do tests that involve the engine.) then i will be more than happy to do them. Just leave a comment and i will get back to you

Some of these are down to personal opinon, and should not be taken personaly in anyway.

Oh it’s dawning ever closer. and i’m off down to plymouth in 2 weeks to move into my halls and get everything unpacked just intime for freshers week.

So i’ll be leaving behind alot. will only be taking 1 computer, so that means i somehow have to work how to remote control the others saftly from outside the network, so i can keep my website up to date.

I wounder what i will need to take, just looking around my room now i can think of a fair few; Mac, keyboard, mouse, external hdd, graphics tablet, speakers, sub, exentsion cable, fan heater and cooler, books, free view box, cd’s to sell on eBay for some cash when needed :p, dvd’s, weights, books, SudoKu, Gamecube maybe.. and thers loads more, to much to say really…

Anyway i got loads to do before i leave, so better scoot.

Who would have one of these, well it turns out my dad would get a super dooper top notch one and then compleatly customize it.

and for some stupid reason it decided to block my Blog and wouldn’t let me vist it!! damn stupid thing.

of course it’s all sorted now.

E164 seems set to be the next big thing in internet telephony. And our mums always told us that E numbers were bad for us!

Telephone Number Mapping (ENUM) is designed to let anyone be called anywhere regardless of different devices and applications by means of just one identifier – the plain old telephone number. While we all think VoIP is pretty cool, there’s one overarching problem: inter-domain call routing. The problem stems from communication inadequacies that prevent VoIP servers from connectiong with each other, and results in the use of a telco like BT, which results in call charges.

ENUM was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force to solve the communication problems between VoIP systems, enabling them to find each other on the web using only a telephone number.

“ENUM allows an end user to type a number into a web browser and to access a listing of internet resources for that number, such as addresses for IP telephony, email or websites,” says Jay Daley, IT directo at Nominet. “In many ways ENUM is a medium term solution to ween us off standard telephone numbers.”

In other words, your personal phone number can also become your personal VoIP phone address. Nominet are hoping to bid for the tender of ENUM registration in the UK, and the first public E164 numbers will be avaliable next year.

Taken from .net magazine

What is ENUM?

ENUM is simply the convergence of Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN) to Internet Protocol (IP) Networks – in other words, the mapping of telephone numbers to domain names using a Domain Name System (DNS)-based architecture. ENUM helps to facilitate such services as Voice over IP (VoIP), and allows network elements to find services on the Internet using only a telephone number. ENUM is also the title of RFC 3761, the approved protocol document that discusses the use of DNS for the storage of E.164 numbers and the available services connected to an E.164 number.

It is also the title of RFC 2916, the approved protocol document that discusses the use of DNS for the storage of E.164 numbers and the available services connected to an E.164 number.

ENUM does not change the Numbering Plan and does not change telephony numbering or its administration in any way. ENUM will not drain already scarce numbering resources because it uses existing numbers.

How is ENUM going to work for the average end user?
What will it look like?

The mechanics of using ENUM when a call is made from one person to another are virtually invisible. For instance, if one person called another and both parties were using IP phones, the call would appear as if it were being made over the regular PSTN. The calling party would designate the services its number would use, and the called party would also have specified which ENUM service they wish to have used to be contacted.

What kinds of applications could use ENUM?

The initial applications to which ENUM will be applied are Voice over IP (VoIP) and Voice Profile for Internet email (VPIM). The goal of the VoIP industry is to be able to make simple and high-quality voice calls using the internet, while the VPIM industry wants to develop voice mail systems that can exchange messages over IP networks. ENUM’s applications will most certainly reach beyond VoIP and VPIM to such services as Internet fax and Instant Messaging.

How does ENUM work?

A telephone number, once entered, is translated into an Internet address. The following steps explain the process:

• The number entered is translated into a full qualified E.164 number. (To quote an example from earlier, the number 9777 1234 in Melbourne, Australia would be +61 3 9777 1234.)
• The number is reduced to digits only. (e.g., 61397771234)
• The digits are re-ordered back to front. (e.g., 43217779316)
• Dots are placed between each digit. (e.g., 4.3.2.1.7.7.7.9.3.1.6)
• The domain e164.arpa is added to the end. (e.g., 4.3.2.1.7.7.7.9.3.0.1.6.e164.arpa)
• A DNS query is then issued on this domain.

Once the authoritative name server is found, ENUM retrieves relevant NAPTR Resource records and will perform according to the user’s registered services for that number.

What is .arpa, and why is it the top level domain for ENUM?
Why not create a new top-level domain specifically for ENUM?

E164.arpa has been designated as the temporary DNS domain for use with ENUM. This designation may change as a result of ongoing discussions between the ITU, the IETF and other international organizations involved with ENUM. (In the event that the international community chooses a different ENUM domain, the structures discussed here and in IETF RFC 2916 will apply to that new designated domain.)

The .arpa domain has been designated for Internet infrastructure purposes. It is managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) in cooperation with the Internet technical community under the guidance of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). A new top-level domain (e.g., .e164) was not created because ENUM is an infrastructure application appropriate for designation within the previously established .arpa domain. ENUM is considered appropriate as an infrastructure application because it provides a set of DNS-based resource directories, referenced by phone number, for use by various ENUM-enabled application clients (such as telephones, SIP servers and voice messaging systems).

This seams like a HUGE leap in telecommuncations to me, i’m really intrested to hear more about this in the future.

You can read more here

Just bought my self one of these.

Basically as i’m off to University in 16 days, i’m trying to cut down on the amount i’m taking with me, and so i don’t want to take my chunky TV, but would like to watch TV and Freeview, so i read that i can plug my freeview into this, and then record, edit etc… the shows as well :p which i think is SWEEEEEET free music here i come muahahaha. still gotta buy a TV licence but oh well..

Just compleatly finished the Re-design of my current Portfolio, i’m really happy with the out come. Basically the re-design came around as i managed to grab my self a Work Experiance spot with an amazing web design company called Framfab, they are the biggist in the UK and it was a great working with there design team, i worked on a couple of products for them, and they helped me out with a re-design, i worked with a typographer and an information architech.

Anyway’s i just added the finishing touches which was the lightbox on the images, and i edited it a tad to give it a different overlay color. will probs have another fiddle with that and see what else i can get it 2 do :p

Linky