Where 2009: "The Evolving Geoweb" by Steven Lee and Lior Ron
26 June 2009 | Posted by Jeffrey Barke | No comments
Steven Lee and Lior Ron from Google, Inc. presenting "The Evolving Geoweb" at Where 2.0 2009.
Source: http://where.blip.tv/file/2143974/ via @googlemaps
Canonical URL links
22 February 2009 | Posted by Jeffrey Barke | 4 comments
From Yoast and very cool:
Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have just announced a new tag, which we can use to tell the search engines which URL it should have for the current page. This is probably best explained with an example, so here goes.
Suppose you have read my Twitter Analytics post, and you've started tagging all the URLs you spread on Twitter with Google Analytics campaign variables. So at some point, Google enters your site through this URL:
http://yoast.com/twitter-analytics/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twitter
&utm_campaign=twitterIf it did, in "old times," this would mean you'd have a duplicate content issue: the same content indexed under two different URLs. An issue SEOs have been trying to solve on web pages for ages, which sometimes created huge limitations. This is where the new tag comes in. You add this code to the
<head>section of your page:
<link rel="canonical" href="http://yoast.com/twitter/analytics/" />
Read the rest of Yoast's post and learn more about canonical URLs at http://yoast.com/canonical-url-links/. Google's official post on canonical URLs is at http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/02/specify-your-canonical.html.
To make things easy for us, Yoast has already prepared a WordPress Canonical URL plugin , as well as a Magento extension and a Drupal module! Thanks, Joost!
While I appreciate Yoast blogging about this and their work in preparing the plugin, extension and module, one small critique. Technically, this is not a new "tag," rather it is simply a new value for the rel attribute of the existing link tag.
Google's Chrome browser
3 September 2008 | Posted by Jeffrey Barke | No comments
Jeffrey Zeldman posted a nice overview of Chrome to his blog at http://www.zeldman.com/2008/09/03/a-bug-in-google-chrome/. What's most important, though, is his mention of a bug report by Jeremy Jarratt: "Google Chrome wrongly displays alternate styles as if active, thus 'breaking' websites that use them." (Learn more about alternate styles at A List Apart.)
PPK talks about Chrome at http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2008/09/google_chrome.html. He updated his BrowserDetect JavaScript object to detect Chrome.
John Resig provides a rundown of the various browsers' JavaScript engine performance at http://ejohn.org/blog/javascript-performance-rundown/. John uses three different test suites and discusses what the tests are testing and how the numbers relate to actual web page performance.
Using the Dromaeo test suite, which attempts to mimic how browsers perform under a normal web browsing situation, the WebKit-based engines came out ahead. Safari has a slight lead over Chrome, then the Firefox engines (TraceMonkey and SpiderMonkey), followed by Opera. No results for IE were provided, because it crashes while running the tests.
Personally, I downloaded Chrome yesterday and love it. The interface is very clean, pages render well and browsing is fast. I'm sorry Firefox, but while you're still my development browser of choice, for pleasure I've been using Safari on the Mac and will now be using Chrome on the PC.
NY Web Standards Meetup—Review of Google I/O
25 July 2008 | Posted by Jeffrey Barke | No comments
Notes and links from last night's Google I/O review at the New York Web Standards Meetup Group. Thanks to everyone who made it!
Note—There's a "curated" selection of Google I/O videos on this blog tagged io2008.
PowerPoint presentation
Demos/tutorials
Even Faster Web Sites
23 July 2008 | Posted by Jeffrey Barke | No comments
Even Faster Web Sites. Steve Souders (Google)
Steve's book High Performance Web Sites describes the 14 best practices he developed while working as the Chief Performance Yahoo!. YSlow, the Firebug extension he created, codified those best practices. Now working at Google, Steve discusses the next set of best practices he's discovered, including the impact of iframes and where to place (and where not to place) inline script blocks.
Presentation slides (Google Docs)
Source: YouTube
Advanced Gadget and UI Development Using Google's AJAX APIs
22 July 2008 | Posted by Jeffrey Barke | No comments
Advanced Gadget and UI Development Using Google's AJAX APIs. Derek Collison (Google)
The Google AJAX APIs can be used to build sophisticated Gadgets and UI controls for your website. For instance, you can by-pass complex server-side proxies and mash up feeds directly with a few lines of JavaScript using the Feed API. In this session, we'll dive into advanced uses of the raw Feed and Search APIs. We’ll also show you how to use Google's new Language API to broaden the global reach of your web applications.
Participants should be familiar with JavaScript and dynamic Web applications.
Presentation slides (PDF)
Source: YouTube
Rapid Development with Python, Django and Google App Engine
21 July 2008 | Posted by Jeffrey Barke | No comments
Rapid Development with Python, Django, and Google App Engine. Guido van Rossum (Google)
Learn how to create great web applications quickly on Google App Engine using the Django Web framework and the Python language. Google App Engine lets you host complete, scalable web applications written in Python with minimal fuss. This tutorial assumes basic familiarity with Python, but definitely no advanced Python knowledge; Django experience is optional. You will learn how to use the Django web framework with the datastore API provided by Google App Engine, and how to get the most mileage out of the combination. You will also see how to use Django best practices like unit testing when developing for Google App Engine.
Presentation slides (PDF)
Source: YouTube
NY Web Standards Meetup—Review of Google I/O
21 July 2008 | Posted by Jeffrey Barke | No comments
The New York Web Standards Meetup Group will meet this Thursday (24 July 2008) at theMechanism at 7:00 pm.
Google I/O was a two day developer gathering in San Francisco, 28–28 May 2008, which covered building the next generation of Web applications with Google and open technologies.
I attended and will talk about what I learned there, specifically focusing on Gears, Google App Engine and the Google Ajax APIs. Prior to the meetup, you can read a bit about my experience at theMechanism's blog and watch some of the videos I've gathered here.
24 July 2008 . 7:00 pm
theMechanism
440 9th Avenue 8th Floor
New York, NY 10001 [map]
Please contact theMechanism if you'd like to present at the September or October meetup.
Google I/O 2008—Improving Browsers in New Ways: Gears++
20 July 2008 | Posted by Jeffrey Barke | No comments
Improving Browsers in New Ways: Gears++. Chris Prince (Google)
Google Gears has progressed by leaps since its initial launch—and in ways that many developers may not realize. Come learn all about what's new in Google Gears. (Hint: it's not just about offline!)
Presentation slides (Google Docs)
Source: YouTube
Google I/O 2008—State of Ajax: The Universe Is Expanding
19 July 2008 | Posted by Jeffrey Barke | No comments
State of Ajax: The Universe is Expanding. Dion Almaer (Google) and Ben Galbraith (Ajaxian.com)
The Ajax revolution is complete: sophisticated JavaScript user interfaces are nearly ubiquitous. Yet, the innovations in the Ajax community continue. In this session, Dion Almaer and Ben Galbraith, the founders of Ajaxian.com, discuss the latest Ajax developments, including multithreaded JavaScript technology-powered UIs, robust offline storage, choosing the right Ajax/JavaScript technology framework, Ajax outside of the browser and more. They use plenty of examples and a bit of live coding for dramatic effect. Come and learn how to use the latest technology to make your web applications sizzle. And, see if your heckling can throw them off balance!
Presentation slides (PDF)
Source: YouTube
