Neil Merton

Safari Browser For PC

Well, I guess it was only a matter of time, but Apple have released the latest version of their browser called Safari and it looks like it’s available for Windows users too!

I’ve not had chance to install it yet, but I will do soon. In the meantime why not check it out for yourself?

Download Safari 3 Public Beta from the Apple website.

Update - 20 June 2007: Below is a comparison between Safari & Firefox, you’ll hopefully see that the Safari image is more vibrant.

Windows TextMate Port

I’ve never really used the TextMate editor, but have always heard good things about it from the Mac community. It’s an ingenious approach to code writing as it tried to aid writing code quickly by offering snippets in a variety of coding languages (including ColdFusion).

It was purely by chance that I happened to stumble upon a new text editor that has just become available for the PC called e-TextEditor and it seems to emulate TextMate very closely, which is nice.

So, naturally I was quick to download and install it. After applying the ColdFusion Bundle (which was a breeze thanks to cfTextMate) I tested out the editor’s nifty features. Very impressive, and I’m sure with regular use writing ColdFusion will be an even more pleasurable experience.

Here’s a few items I really like:

1. Indent guides - provides a visual guide to your code indents
2. Themes - loads of different colour themes to choose from (not essential, but a nice bonus!)
3. Bundles - these are code ‘packages’ that allows the magic to happen (e.g. simply type ‘cfif’, press tab and be amazed!)
4. TODO / FIXME / CHANGED - simply add these to comments and then view the list of things to do

The editor is still in beta stage, so it’s a little rough around the edges, but I know I’ll be keeping a very close eye on it’s progress.

Gem of an Editor

I recently had the need of a code editor that could make backups of files before saving them - a feature that I though I wouldn’t be able to find in a free application.

After a short Google session I came upon Crimson Editor. It’s no longer being maintained but it is definately worth investigating if you’re looking for a light-weight code editor. The one feature that I do love is the ability to create a copy of the file before it was editted when you save it. This can also be done in such a way that they get autonumbered - thus creating a simply version control system.

There is a set of ColdFusion tags in a syntax file (click on ‘Syntax Files’ and then search for the term ‘ColdFusion’) and these are very easy to install. It doesn’t have an auto-complete feature, but this can be a good thing as it forces you to remember the tags.

Luna Element Updated

My all-time favourite Windows XP Theme (visual style) gets a long awaited updated.

I’ve been using the improved variation on the default Luna Windows XP style for many years and the author has just released he latest version.

As always this theme is clean, crisp and visually appealing. With a few touches of the new Vista included - this theme will be an instant hit.

Download the theme here.

Note: in order to apply this theme you will need to have a hacked version of the Windows XP Theme Manager - this can be safely done by following the instructions on this website.

Oh, and Windows Vista was released to the public today.

Keeping track of tasks

In my new job there’s always a lot of new things to do and I decided that it was time to implement a way of tracking what is is required of me to do.

So, last night I went onto Hotscripts (a great source for web scripts) and had a look through what’s available. After trying out a few demos I decided to install one called TaskFreak.

What a great little application! It’s very simple (which is great) and presents the tasks in a neat way. It also utilises AJAX which nice. It’s created with PHP and its backend is MySQL so was easy to setup on my local PC.

So, if you need a way of tracking jobs then do investigate TaskFreak.

Firefox 2.0 Released

It’s not yet announced, but you can download Firefox 2.0 from Mozilla.

I’ve been using it for a few hours and it seems to be ok.

One thing I’ve not done yet is to install Internet Explorer 7 on my home PC. I’ve installed it at work and it’s ok too.

Flock Theme For Firefox

Just found this great theme for Mozilla Firefox - it’s a port of the Flock Browser for use with Firefox.

Very easy on the eyes.

Read Outlook Messages As Plain Text

I’ve been tasks with creating quite a few email campaigns recently (all above board, honest guv’). One issue that I came across was to have the ability to read the emails I’ve been sending myself as tests as plain text. Why do you ask?

Well, ColdFusion’s cfmail function allows you to send both HTML and plain text versions of emails, which is great. I needed to find out whether I actually needed two different versions or whether Outlook (and hopefully other email clients) will automatically convert HTML emails into something readable as plain text. In true Microsoft fashion, you actually have to add a DWORD to the registry settings for Outlook in order to do this. Close Outlook (if it’s open) and here what to add to the registry, via Regedit:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\1X.0\Outlook\Options\Mail

Add a new DWORD of READASPLAIN with a value of 1.

Now when you view emails in Outlook they will be displayed as plain text by default, with the option of viewing emails as HTML if required.