September 13, 2008 at 5:21 pm
· Filed under Design
Here’s a little tip I thought I’d share, and may be very obvious to many.
I had a design I was testing that had 2 column, 3 column, and 4 column floats all on one page. Problem was, the only browser that seem to actually float the divs was Opera. I spent a hefty chunk of time trying to figure out why Firefox especially was just putting one right after the other.
Turns out the answer was super simple. I had named my classes things like “3col” and “4col”. Once I renamed them to “threecol” and “fourcol” the whole thing worked perfectly in all browsers. So simple.
Again, I haven’t played the co-op over Xbox Live (patch forthcoming). But here are my thoughts of playing multiplayer, and single player.
It’s awesome and fun.
I have beaten the game once now with one character by myself, and also got played the whole game (minus completing the final battle) with two other players locally. The game is just fun. The art style is bright and engaging, the game play is just what it should be for a brawler like this, and it IS a good value for the money. I mean really, $15 for the number of hours of enjoyment I’ve already had has been totally worth it.
One thing I noticed that was really well done in the game are the levels. You get different environments frequently. You don’t usually play in any one locale for much more than 5 minutes. The result is a constant sense of accomplishment. It also allows you to play sections over again if you want to level up.
I don’t want to say too much, because I enjoyed discovering things in the game greatly, and I feel that everyone should at least check out the trial version.
I may have pointed out that the Google Chrome browser has some issues with the ACID 2 test, but here’s something really good about it. For at least some sites (like webmail), it is super fast. Firefox 3 is a fast browser, but this is something else altogether for some types of sites. It is as close to instantaneous as you can be.
Also, so far, I’ve had no plugin’s to add (such as flash). I could goto youtube right away and watch a video without the need to install something to view flash videos. Awesome. Maybe it’s because it’s using a plugin that I’ve already installed on another browser, but nonetheless, I appreciate that.
Well, what’s the first thing I tried after downloading Google chrome? The ACID 2 test of course. And how did the new browser fair? Interesting quesion.
This is the screenshot I took. The errors changed based on how large my browser window was. Also, if I waited long enough (like 60 seconds or something), it would create the proper image.
As per most Google products, it’s a beta so I’m sure this will all be fixed soon enough.
So I’ve played the Xbox Live Arcade game Castle Crashers (the trial). I really like it. It’s fun, it’s funny, looks good etc etc… Now, most of my friends list won’t be downloading this, so I haven’t played any co-op and probably won’t. Never the less, I think I’m going to buy it.
However, I’ve heard lots of noise on the internet about how the online play is broken. Basically seriously broken. What I don’t understand is the following: If every game has to go through Microsoft certification, why doesn’t this game work better? I understand it’s not a play test program, but nobody came accross this bug already? REALLY? (I feel like Kevin Pereira all of a sudden)
August 1, 2008 at 9:26 am
· Filed under Uncategorized
Installing a server on your local machine
First, I’d like to apologize to the Linux and Mac users, this post will be scewed towards Windows users. I will try to offer the alternatives, but I haven’t actually implemented them myself.
So with that out of the way, what you need to download is WAMP (Windows Apache MySQL PHP). This is truly the simplest way to get a server on your windows machine up and running. You don’t even have to mess around configuring the php.ini file or anything like that. Just double click this installer and you’re ready to go.
Afterwards you’ll see a small icon on your taskbar. You’re basically up and running. If you click on it, you’ll get a small menu. Clicking “www Directory” will take you to the directory you should be putting your new site files. To create a new project, and have an area to store everything, just create a new folder in this “www” directory. Name it “blog”, and that’s where your index.php and other files will reside.
If you click on the wamp server in the taskbar and then choose “Localhost”, it will open your default browser and send you to a page summarizing and providing links that you’ll be using frequently. You’ll also see “blog” under the “your projects” section.
By the way, if you’re looking for a really good text editor that works with a multitude of files, search for Notepad++. It’s my personal favorite.
Ever wanted to create a simple blog without needing to do the whole Wordpress deal? Maybe you just want to create something on your local machine for your own personal use. Heck, coding your own blog is also a good way to show a potential employer that you have at least some coding chops.
Well, I’m going to attempt to help the absolute beginner create just that. I myself am no PHP expert, but I’ve managed to learn enough that I think I could help other beginners. I’m sure some of the ways that I’m coding things are not necessarily the best possible method, but I’m open to comments and suggestions. I’m learning too, after all.
So what type of sections will these posts cover? Well as of right now this is my plan (I’m sure it’ll change soon):
on your taskbar. You’re basically up and running. If you click on it, you’ll get a small menu. Clicking “www Directory” will take you to the directory you should be putting your new site files. To create a new project, and have an area to store everything, just create a new folder in this “www” directory. Name it “blog”, and that’s where your index.php and other files will reside.