Raible Designs

TSSJS BOF: Web Framework Sweet Spots

I'm leading a BOF at this year's TSS Java Symposium titled Web Framework Sweet Spots.

The objective of this BOF is to discuss the various open source web frameworks and what each does well. Matt kicks off the discussion by highlighting the good features of various frameworks, (results of pre-conference discussions with various framework authors to get their opinions on what problems their framework solves best) as well as debunk some myths based on audience members real-world experiences.

Yesterday, I sent an e-mail the authors of the most popular web frameworks in JavaLand. In my opinion, these are (in alphabetical order): Cocoon, JSF, RIFE, Seam, Spring MVC, Spring Web Flow, Struts, Trails, Tapestry, WebWork and Wicket. If your framework isn't on this list, I'm sorry. If you can prove to me that yours is more popular than one of the ones listed here, I'll send you the questionnaire and add you to the list. I've received a few responses, and I doubt all authors will respond, so there might be some room.

If you're going to be at Caesar's Palace for TSSJS 2006, I invite you to stop by on Friday night at 6:30. I've asked the TechTarget folks several times about getting beer served at this BOF, but they keep ignoring the question. I think it's time to contact Caesar's - since it is legal to have a beer pretty much anywhere in Vegas.

Riding to work in the rain

Today is a cold n' dreary day in Denver. It's been raining since about 8:00 this morning and it's supposed to turn to snow by this evening. Did that stop me from riding my bike to work today? Hell no! There's nothing like riding in cold rain to make you feel alive.

We have a SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW ADVISORY in effect through 6pm for the I-25 corridor and Denver Metro Area. Heavy, wet snow for the downtown Denver Metro Area with 1-4 inches on the grassy areas by this evening. Roads will get slushy by this afternoon in the Denver Metro Area. Western Douglas, western Jefferson and Boulder counties may see icy and snowpacked roads by later today with colder temperatures and 3 to 6 inches by this evening. We may see 4 to 8 inches above 8000 feet.

My pants and coat were pretty soaked when I got here, but I brought a change of clothes, so I've been nice and dry ever since. I'm heading to the Denver JUG meeting tonight after work. I expect 2-3" of fresh snow on the ride home later tonight. With lots of snow in the hills tonight, tomorrow might have to be a "ski day".

Update: No ride home for me - I forgot my keys in my office when I went to DJUG. No access to the office == no bike ride home. Took a cab instead. Too bad, it didn't snow much and would've been a nice ride.

Developers have the best job in the world

I've often said that being a Software Developer is the "Doctor of The Aughts" - now there's proof.

OpenLaszlo supports Ajaxified output

I heard this was coming, but I didn't expect it so soon.

There has been some crazy, crazy work going on here in the last month or two and the result is amazing. Today at etech, we’re demoing an early alpha of OpenLaszlo’s new DHTML backend. Truth! Press Release!

Here’s a new demo showing off the goods:

• LzPix demo, Flash version
• LzPix demo, DHTML version
• LzPix demo, source code

That’s a live OpenLaszlo server, running both apps from the same source code.

Also, new shiny openlaszlo.org page, with links to the DHTML demo.

This demo definitely works best in Firefox, but it's damn impressive. It's tough to test which medium you're using if you open them side-by-side. My hats off to you OpenLaszlo Developers - well done.

RE: Marketing is the billion dollar question in open source

Dana Blankenhorn has an interesting post titled Marketing is the billion dollar question in open source. I definitely agree with this. Good marketing of a project can make it successful, and bad marketing can kill it. It really is the hardest part of being an open source developer. Sure it's fun to work on this stuff until the wee hours of the morning, but if no one (including yourself) appreciates your project (due to your lack of marketing), it really worth it? Compare that to wild enthusiasm by your users and people writing articles about your project. There's a stark contrast there.

Some of the hottest open source projects are driven by marketing. Read more (and comment) on my Virtuas blog.

Dream Bus

This is a 23-window bus, and looks to be a bit older than mine (a '66 21-window). However, it has the same paint job I'm dreamin' of. Sure is beautiful.

Found at vwtrends.com.

Upgraded to Roller 2.1

I upgraded this site to Roller 2.1 yesterday. I did encounter a few issues while upgrading, but nothing too major. If you see any issues let me know.

For the record, this blog has had 2244 entries and 7380 comments since I started it in 2002. I wonder what the highest numbers are on a Roller-based blog?

CSS Framework Design Contest

Over the past 2 weeks, I've managed to raise $900 for the CSS Framework Design Contest. Thanks to friends, AppFuse users and SourceBeat their donations. You guys rock!

With this cash, I hope to give away 3 prizes: an iPod (60GB), an iPod (30GB) and a 2GB Nano. Of course, if the winners decide they'd rather donate the money to charity, that's cool too. Any additional donations I receive I'm going to send to the Elena Steinberg Memorial Fund.

Here's the rules of the contest: Create a theme (mostly CSS, images allowed) that makes the CSS Framework look good (download source files). This framework is simply a structured bit of XHTML for page layout, and a number of CSS files for positioning. What's missing is a number of good-looking themes to make this framework look even better. I have aspirations of creating something like CSS Zen Garden - but with more of a web-application flavor.

I'll use the same submission guidelines as the CSS Zen Garder, but add that your themes should be Apache licensed. In my mind, this simply means that anyone can use your theme - they simply have to retain your contact information in a comment w/in the stylesheet itself. I'd like to distribute (or at least make available) the top themes to AppFuse users - so they aren't stuck with a single theme. In addition, it probably wouldn't be too hard to make these into Roller themes.

The CSS themes from this contest should be usable in corporate intranets, as well as customer facing applications. Sure, wacky designs are cool, but sharp and clean are better. Extra points will likely be given for themes that pretty up how forms are laid out and displayed. Ajaxian.com links to some good examples, particularly Wufoo.

I've created a CSS Design Contest project in AppFuse's JIRA - so please submit your entries there. The contest ends on March 31st, 2006 at midnight MST. After that, the winners will be decided using some sort of voting mechanism. I hope to create an application to showcase all the entries in the next week or two.

For inspiration, you might checkout Open Web Design and Open Source Web Design.

Good luck folks - may the best design win!

Spring Fundamentals in Boston almost sold out...

If you're looking to learn Spring and live near Boston, I'm coming to town on March 14th to teach our Spring Fundamentals course. We're getting pretty close to capacity, so sign up now before it's sold out!

And yes, I will be staying in Boston on Friday night for St. Patty's day. Should be a good time for sure.

MacBook Pro Battery Life

I leave my MacBook Pro at the office these days, and keep it plugged in most of the time. However, some folks have asked about battery life, so I figured I'd test it out today. I unplugged it when I got in and waited for it to sleep. 2 hours and 23 minutes. This is on par with my old PowerBook, but it's quite different from what MacRumors says (3hr 17min). I have a keyboard, mouse and 20" cinema display hooked up to it, but the display has its own power, so I doubt that effects the results.