Google Reader has a Posse

...and a surprisingly large lead in the RSS reader stakes

I was moderately shocked today to see a jump of over 1,000 subscribers in my FeedBurner stats this morning – then I realised this was the first data push since Google started broadcasting their subscriber figures. Whilst I’m guessing these numbers don’t differentiate between the different Google RSS features, such as the personalised homepage and Google Reader, one thing is clear: Bloglines no longer leads the way in terms of RSS aggregation. [read more...]

5 incredibly outdated and annoying techniques in (X)HTML

Navigating through the vagarities of legacy code

Legacy code. The mere words strike fear into the most hardened web developer, and with good reason - out of date, poorly factored code that's been left untouched for years is a nightmare to work with. [read more...]

How to spot a Windows fanboy

Clinging desperately to sinking ships

I was chatting to a friend (and long-time Windows supporter) on MSN earlier today – he was looking for a utility to extract .RAR archives on Windows. I thought there was an obvious (and easily obtainable) option – but, apparently not so much. [read more...]

Alexa Rolls Out New Stats

If you're a compulsive statistics sort like I am, and are familiar with the statistics available at alexa.com, then you may want to take a look at this. Looks like they've rolled out a few new features in the last couple of hours, and there's some interesting new metrics. [read more...]

Windows Vista: Better designed than OS X?

On design challenges and keeping all the people happy, all of the time

This week I gained my first experience with Windows Vista. Whilst it wasn't so much of a 'Wow' starting as a mildly impressed 'Hmm', I do believe Windows Vista is a step in the right direction for the Windows operating system. It may be a couple of years late, but we'll forgive Microsoft for that seeing as they eventually made it to market. Whilst functionally, not all that much has changed, Vista has a lot of swish new minor features and visual chrome that do add significantly to the desktop experience. [read more...]

New Vista Fonts & The Web

Will Cambria, Calibri et al be adopted as web typefaces?

Once upon a time, back in the early days of the world wide web, when Windows 95 was still revolutionary and Internet Explorer was actually a sensible choice over the competition, Microsoft bestowed a gift unto the web which persists to this day: the Core fonts for the Web project. [read more...]

Review: LG Shine

Successor to the Chocolate - for release on the 7th February 2007

The latest in LG's series of 'Black Label' high-end mobile phones is about to hit the streets - dubbed 'Shine', it's a slider phone, much like it's popular predecessor, the LG Chocolate, and has a fully reflective front screen that acts as a mirror when the screen is off. [read more...]

What does it take to be in 9rules?

A selection of vital statistics from the blogging network

Popular blogging network 9rules (of which Modern Life is a part) comprises of a few hundred blogs, hand-picked for quality content. For some bloggers, the leaf ident is a badge of honour - the window for applications is but once or twice a year, and lasts just 24 hours, and many are turned away - so the general quality of sites in the network is maintained. [read more...]

Web Standards Don't Matter (As much as you think)

Rules are supposed to be broken...

W3C. Valid XHTML. Valid CSS2. Ring any bells? If you’re learning web design, or even if you have a passing interest, then some standards evangelist has probably told you how everything should be marked up semantically and to current standard definitions set by arbitrary organisations. It’s just the way things should be done. But here’s what they don’t let on – standards don’t really matter at all. [read more...]

Test Driving Text Link Ads

For fun and profit

The service offered by Text Link Ads is a little different to other advertising solutions - rather than pay per action, click or impression, payouts are based on an allotted value per month for a text link placed on a given site. [read more...]