Links (12,295 links)

A magnificent ridge-top route crossing Dorset's rural heartland.

With mobile on my mind, I was blown away by the awesome performance tips in this blog post: Gmail for Mobile HTML5 Series: Reducing Startup Latency. This post hits on the main point of my recent book - the impact of loading JavaScript. This is the #1 performance issue for today’s web apps.

Lots of useful-looking django apps.

Via alastc.

Zen Coding lets you use syntax that looks very much like CSS selectors to write HTML

"A [front end developer] is responsible for everything that sits on the client side of the web stack — the content, presentation and behaviour layers. Few other roles touch so many other key aspects of a business as does a [front end developer]’s." Amen to that.

Early days but looks promising. "I have decided to use cpython as platform, django as web framework for the server and Fabric as library to automate the task execution."

Aims to provide an easy to setup continuous integration server and client. The server side infrastructure is built on top of django. The tasks are described using fabric.

New Django mag.

A configurable set of panels that display various debug information about the current request/response.

Lets you debug web hooks by capturing and logging the asynchronous requests made when events happen. Make a PostBin and register the URL with a web hook provider. All POST requests to the URL are logged for you to see when you browse to that URL.

Do you want to test your next Mac OS X-to-Arduino project without always having the Arduino available? Do you want to test you cool Processing application when your mate hasn't finished writing the Arduino sketch? Do you want to do test driven development of your Mac OS X based application without dependency on your microcontroller?

The acrimonious split follows unsatisfactory negotiations which could have given Freecycle's UK moderators the ability to localise their web pages and allow them to serve the community better [...] The UK is probably the most enthusiastic Freecycling country in the world, hosting just 10% of all the branches but handling 27% of all Freecycling activities.

Font-as-a-service.

We are making more of our geological data available in open formats so that they can be used in mashup type applications within software such as Google Earth (please note the terms and conditions of use for Google's and any other software). We hope these services stimulate innovative uses of our data and promote interoperability.

Many of the BGS's most popular datasets are available to search and view online.

"Enables you to easily add Microsoft Ajax Library and jQuery scripts to your Web applications" if, horror of horrors, you should need to do something involving MS Ajax.

Via demwunz.

Provides digital distribution for artists, labels and organizations through custom download cards and personalized web platforms.

Downloady music card thingummies. Still haven't found a way of getting them into the shrinkwrap without tremendous expense.

Discover when the golden hour is at your current location, explore visually how the golden hour changes with the seasons and where you are in the world. [...] We calculate sunrise and sunset times. the elevation and azimuth of the sun and of course, display the golden hour.

Via kevan.

A software version control visualization for Git and CVS.

"Unique steam-powered Cornish beam engine". Like the fact that there's a "Steaming / Not steaming" table.

Sheltered garden with an abundance of exotic trees and shrubs.

"Rocky island crowned by medieval church and castle, home to a living community." No zombies, then.

This takes you on a circular route through the town, tracing its story through buildings and historical remains, rounds and medieval crosses, churches, chapels, farm towns and shops.

The bigger challenges when creating sprites are finding the background images and knowing how to group them into sprites. Once the sprite image is created, testing the sprite, including changing all the CSS, is time consuming. SpriteMe addresses all of these challenges.

More worthwhile git persuasion info.

Via ihart.

Mr Reid's excellent Interesting talk: "Everything you know about nuclear power is wrong".

Lots of information on the Night Riviera sleeper service to Cornwall from Seat 61.

Open-air cliffside theatre.

Overlooks the beautiful St Michael's Mount and boasts Cornwall's largest reedbed. More than 250 bird, 500 plant, 500 insect and 18 mammal species have been recorded here and bitterns are now regular winter visitors (although patience is required to see them).

Very detailed A/B testing presentation.

Via simonw.

Via dannero.

A very brief list of what happened at this year’s Interesting

An experiment in crowdsourced game development.

A collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds.

Two case studies of building Django applications irresponsibly on tight deadlines, and some thoughts on more sustainable ways of developing with Django.