Kodiak's Korner

Even though I generally don’t like to go live with a website update befre the entire site is ready, I decided to do just that earlier today with the launch of the new Rochester-Area 20-Somethings (R.A.T.S.) website.  So far I’ve only put up a homepage, and it isn’t finalized yet, but I like the design and I really wanted to see my work on the site after a year of maintaining it.

While we’re on the subject of R.A.T.S., come check out Game Night tonight at Spot Coffee.  If you’ve never been to a R.A.T.S. event, this is a great oppertunity to check us out.  The fun starts at 7:30, we’ll be the group that’s playing games (duh).  IF you don’t see us around be sure to check the balcony. 

A while ago I posted a link to a Comedy Central South Park character creator that I used to design what I would look like if I were on South Park. Today I discovered another great time waster that lets you build yourself as a plastic model, simila to the Lego people that we all used to love. Chekc out Reasonably Clever’s Mini-Mizer for more fun.

Edit: The presentation will be on Monday, November 7, 2005.  The original email I received had the date wrong and I didn’t bother to check.

I got an email from one of the HighEdWeDev organizers yesterday informing me that my presentation proposal has been accepted.  I’ll be presenting a one-hour session in the Technical: Tools & Security track entitled Bringing True Interactivity to Web Applications with XML Requests.  Below is the abstract that I submitted:

The web’s page metaphor works great for static data—but let’s face it—when it comes to interactivity, it falls short. Submitting a form and waiting for the page to refresh isn’t much more advanced than submitting your paper expense report and waiting for your bursar to send you a check through interoffice mail. For years GUI-based applications have responded to our key presses and mouse clicks and provided us with hints, shortcuts, and error checking—without refreshing the screen or making us wait, so why can’t the web be the same? This presentation will introduce you to the XMLHttpReqest object and will show you how to make your web pages interact behind-the-scenes with server-side scripts to provide complex data validation, data lookups, and a true interactive experience for your users.

My presentation is scheduled for Monday, November 7, 2005 at 2:45 p.m. If you’ll be attending the conference, be sure to check it out.  If you can’t make it, I’ll be posting my handouts and examples on this site—stay tuned.