Tag Archives: interface

An AJAX option to remember

Posted by Godoy on

I always forget how useful is the “$(<selector>).load(‘url’, {para: meter});” function on jQuery.

It is really a problem solver when loading HTML structures.  I am converting some old code where I got HTML fragments to replace some existing content on the page and using the usual process, I’d have to do the AJAX query, call a callback procedure and then there I’d replace the contents of the section / div / whatever I wanted.

With jQuery.load I can do that on a single call and in a more effective way.

Silly thing and so simple that I always keep forgetting about it.

KDE 4.1 on OpenSuSE 11.0

Posted by Godoy on

I’ve added the Factory repository to the list of repositories I use to update my OpenSuSE install and now I am running KDE 4.1.

There were a lot of bugfixes and it looks like we’ll have a more stable interface when OpenSuSE 11.1 comes out.  This is great and I am anxious for the next enhancements we’ll get ’til there.

I am now using two plasmoids to show the files available on my home directory and on my Desktop directory.  No other icons on the Desktop, as with the KDE 4 that was released with OpenSuSE 11.  This, in my humble opinion, makes the process of creating new shortcuts easier and makes the Desktop area cleaner and more efficient.

I’ve also added a plasmoid for “post-it” like notes on the Desktop.  This helps taking quick notes for things that I am changing or that I’m about to revisit / work in the very very near future (something that I saw while leaving work and want to get back to it at home, for example).

Web Apps and Firefox’s 3 Fullscreen Mode

Posted by Godoy on

I was checking some apps I wrote in fullscreen mode with Forefox 3.  They become interestingly integrated into the desktop.

It is like they are a standard application, and menus appears like real menus instead of just HTML + CSS + JavaScript.

There were some extensions on Firefox 2 to do something like that, but Firefox 3 does it natively and having the toolbar and menus disappear completely when in fullscreen mode makes it nicer to work with.

I decided that I’ll use more applications — Google Reader, WordPress, etc. — in fullscreen mode.  It feels more comfortable.

KDE4’s new look

Posted by Godoy on

It’s been a while since I last tried using KDE4 as my official desktop environment, always going back to KDE3.

There are some minor annoyances — for example the new Kmixer doesn’t recognize it when I use my notebook’s volume controle to get the volume up or down; KDE3’s does that perfectly — but it looks like they can be worked around.  The absence of knetworkmanager also scared me at first but I can use KDE3’s interface for this one — I connect to several wireless networks, at least 3 every day.

One thing, though, that I thought I wouldn’t like was the fact that there are no more desktop icons on KDE4. I thought it would be crazy and off, but actually using it makes it really interesting and makes the desktop more clean.  I always had this problem of cluttering my desktop with my common tasks and most used shortcuts, besides some material that I am currently reading / using.  Now, all is inside a nice plasmoid, and my usage of folders for each topic fits nicely with this new paradigm.

Lets see if I can keep using this KDE4 or if I’ll go back to KDE3…