I’ve been using the Twitterriffic iPhone client for a while now and enjoying it quite a bit but with all the buzz and great press that Tweetie has been getting, I figured I probably better give it a try. I’ve tried it and and I really like it. Highly recommend it. Also, the forthcoming desktop version of the client looks like a lot of fun. I’ll be picking up a copy on Monday for sure.

After a good deal of consideration over the last year or so, I’ve finally decided to take a measurable step toward an IE6 free lifestyle. I’ve been waiting for, and trying to anticipate, the “right time” to stop designing for IE6 as part of my normal process. I think that time is finally here (for me anyway) with last week’s release of IE8. This step away from IE6 is a little complicated from a business perspective because several of my clients require support for IE6. Even though I don’t like it (and in some ways don’t understand it), I do acknowledge that the need for IE6 support is real and important to these clients as well as their customers/users and that it cannot realistically be ignored. Sounds like a perfect opportunity for a compromise, doesn’t it? I thought so too. The compromise is this: new clients will continue to be offered support for IE6, but at an additional cost. Existing clients will continue to enjoy IE6 support (as per norm) until such time as their website realizes a major redesign, at which point IE6 support will require additional cost. I feel like this is a reasonable way forward that will help smooth the transition away from IE6 and toward arguably better browsers while rewarding existing clients for their loyalty over the years and providing them with options for consideration as their websites continue to grow and evolve.

Yesterday Apple released a public beta of version 4 of the Safari web browser. I’ve downloaded and installed it and spent roughly an hour browsing some of my favorite sites. So far I really like it. It gets out of the way a little bit more that the previous version of the software did and has a few obvious handy features. One that I really like is the new treatment for tearing away tabs to create a new window and dragging tabs between windows – very handy. The “Top Sites” feature looks like it might be really fun too, I’m not sure if it is going to work for me but I am certainly going to give it a try. I took a quick peak under the hood at some of the Developer Tools and was very happy to see some much needed improvements to this aspect of the software. I normally use Firebug via FireFox in my daily work (and I like it very much), but I am going to take the functionality in Safari for a spin and see how I fare. I like the idea of being able to stay in Safari as much as possible. Also worth noting is that the beta software includes an uninstaller (a nice touch). According to Apple, this version of Safari raises the bar for browsers in terms of speed, standards support and forward looking features (like typographical control for example). I’m looking forward to participating in the beta release.

I have been avoiding contaminating my MacBook Pro with the Windows “operating system” like the plague. It just didn’t seem like a nice thing to do to my mac – it’s always been so good to me. That said, a little bit of convenience and a lotta bit of need for increased efficiency finally made me take the plunge. As a rule, I test the websites I build for proper layout and functionality in all the popular modern browsers. So these days that means I’m testing in IE6, IE7 and beginning to test in IE8 Beta 2 on the Windows side (more…)

Google’s new Web browser, Google Chrome (BETA), has arrived and it should be very interesting to see what they’ve come up with. The initial release will be Windows friendly while Linux and Mac versions are said to be on the way. The word is that Chrome is based on the efforts of the Mozilla and WebKit open source projects. As a big fan of both, I’m anxious to see where Google has taken things. Should be interesting to see how things develop (pun intended).

After spending a full day working with Firefox 3 in conjunction with Firebug 1.2.0 Beta, I have formed some initial qualitative impressions. Overall, Firefox 3 feels like an upgrade over the previous version of the browser. It seems snappier and more responsive and in general I am getting used to the new skin fairly quickly. The new Firebug beta is definitely still a beta (more…)

A few days ago my brother turned me onto a really slick little freeware application for Mac OSX that I think is worth mentioning. It’s called iStat Menus from iSlayer. It’s a cool little tool that allows you to monitor the vital signs of your mac in real time (more…)

In the spirit passing along some of the web design and development tools that I just couldn’t live without, I wanted to mention another plugin that works great with Firefox that is created by Chris Pederick – The Web Developer Toolbar. This is another one of those amazing little gems that has been around for quite a while and has proven to be invaluable to me for both getting work done on a daily basis and learning from time to time. The toolbar has a ton of useful features that can be life savers during the design process. There are options which allow you to, among other things, very quickly enable or disable images, css, and javascript, precisely resize the browser window, quickly validate code (HTML and CSS), and even outline various elements right in the browser window to graphically see how a document is built. (more…)

Needless to say, Firebug is not new news these days. It’s been around, widely used, and in my opinion, very excellent for quite some time now. Occasionally, I have found Firebug to be a handy tool for deconstructing and understanding Web pages that have been mysterious to me in terms of their functionality or design. Historically, Firebug has not been a primary tool in my daily workflow, but rather a little gem that I employ every now and again when I need it (kinda like decaf coffee – admit it – you know what I mean). (more…)

Lighthead Software has developed an awesome little freeware application for Mac OSX called Caffeine that I am finding really handy and wanted to pass along. In a nutshell, Caffeine places a little coffee cup icon in the menu bar that provides quick access to override any screen saver and/or energy saver settings you’ve chosen in your system preferences. By clicking the coffee cup icon, you activate Caffeine and your Mac stays “awake” without any user input. Clicking the coffee cup icon again to deactivate Caffeine allows your screen saver and/or energy saver settings in system preferences to work as they normally would. Really simple and effective - me likes!