This site is obviously lacking any kind of intuitive navigation mechanism. Outside of the search box above (and less if you are on Safari), it would seem that all there is to this site is what you see on this page. That may or may not be the case. I will try and rotate stuff out on the homepage from time to time, but for the most part, you’ll need to search for what you are looking for. Can’t think of what to search for? Any of these may help:
I’m generally all over the map. I run the gamut of web-geek, to single dad, to technology whore, to wine aficionado. The homepage will always be a mixture of everything, so you are just gonna have to search for what you are really interested in. Oh, my name is Michael Sablone (gotta put that in for the search).
Do you have something that you plan on displaying in your browser that is a specific size? Want to resize the browser viewing area to exactly match it? Want to do all this in a popup window? While, yes, resizing browsers is not a good usability idea, I have come up with a (I think) bulletproof way to size the browser viewport to it’s inside dimensions.
The Javascript Inner Viewport Resize Method, allows you to resize the browser to match an exact size and location that you specify. Originally, i built it to automatically display media in a pop-up window nice and centered — check this out.
But for all you flash pop-up/fullscreen guys that have been crying foul all this time, it’s now your day in the sun. Improvements welcome.
Ever want to be able to allow people to download some of your sweet wallpapers that you’ve designed? The problem is, what resolution do you offer? Tricky, no? In a lot of ways it echoes the same issues of web design — do you design for the lowest common denominator, i.e. 800x600, or do you make a bunch of them at different sizes? That seems dumb — and a lot of work. Not to mention what about the crazy laptop resolutions out there like 1440x768. Are you gonna offer that size too?
Don’t bother — I have the solution for you! the One-Size-Fits-All Desktop Downloader — let’s call it the OSFADD. It uses JavaScript to detect the system resolution, then sends an AJAX request to PHP that auto-generates a sized image for you and then returns the image to the browser — all without leaving the page. Another nice feature is that it only creates new images if it hasn’t yet — cutting down on unnecessary server load. I’m posting the source up — lets start thinking smarter not harder kids.
Oh, and BTW, I am also using some pretty tricky PHP stuff to use the url to figure out the image using the PHP Fancy Hidden Extension Technique. So, if I had a different source image besides "wallpaper.png", say "other.png" you could change the last portion of the url from "wallpaper" to "other" and it will grab that PNG instead. Pretty slick, huh?
Chef Celia is my mom. So, if you are from the PGMA (Phoenix Greater Metropolitan Area) or the surrounding southwestern USA, and if you are familiar with Bashas’ supermarkets, well, yeah — that’s her.
Anyways, i helped her submit an entry to the Food Network’s whatever-their-reality-tv-show-is-called. It’s a 3 minute video with Chef Celia rippin’ it up in the kitchen. Chef Celia’s superstardom is only clouded by a brief cameo appearance of Laura Alzubi from the equally famous I Do Bliss Invitations. Enjoy.
The holy grail of website usability: Back Button, Bookmarking, Live Url. You really can’t get away with just two. Traditional HTML browsing has all three naturally and never seems to suffer from usability-envy. Flash users do. We’ve been struggling with those three little bits since FutureSplash. So what to do?
So, enter Hypergeneric Flash History — graciously powered by unFocus’s History Keeper (which i might add is a genius bit ofJavaScript). I’ve built a sitelet that showcases the Hypergeneric Flash History’s stuff. You can download the source files there too, but have added a link here for good measure. Enjoy.
Oh, and do give a shout-out to unFocus for me. It’s what started all this. And if you download the source and use it, or can help with some of the ongoing outstanding issues, do let me know.
This is the classic Hypergeneric demo reel. I am posting this video for historical reasons, and just because I am coming to realize I don’t have the patience to do this kind of stuff anymore anyhow.
This video was actually the 1 minute trailer to the Flash Film Festival in Amsterdam in 2001. I was a finalist in the "Art" category. I didn’t win of course — always a bridesmaid, never a bride.
Oddly enough, the motion graphics in this piece came out way cooler than they were originally on the site, which is why I think it’s successful.
It’s unlikely I’ll get around to ever sending out a periodic email about this site. But, if you want, feel free to signup anyways. Not sure what would be important enough to validate a mailing list, but I’m a web developer — I have stuff like this — you know — RSS feeds, contact forms, podcasts, and the obligatory mailing list sign-up form. So here it is.