Confounding URL typists since 2007.
I’ve been working with at Mission Data on a nifty little web app we’re calling uncard.me. We plan to launch next week. It’s a web-based alternative to the app-based contact sharing solutions. All you’ll need is a competent QRCode reader for your reasonably-current iPhone, Android, or Blackberry device. I’m currently using Qrafter, because it rocks. Screenshots below. And if you see Todd or another member of the Mission Data crew at SXSW Interactive, be sure to say hi!
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Recently, I stumbled upon a fork of one of my projects in which someone made a really intelligent-sounding commit: “Remove needless indirection of alias_method_chain.” He used the term indirection, so I was duly impressed, and my curiosity was piqued: had I sinned against the programming gods and used an alias_method_chain when it wasn’t needed? No, I hadn’t. alias_method_chain is frequently abused in the Rails world, but it wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t a valid use case.
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Good evening, Internet! I hope you had a wonderful and productive workday. Now, with those pleasantries out of the way, I’d like to point you in the direction of a little gem called attr_bucket that I am regretful for having written even as I type this blog post suggesting you go try it. That is because this gem, while tiny and unassuming, has tremendous potential for evil.
37signals recently announced that they intend to drop support for OpenID authentication in their products. Good move. Even as a geek — someone who understands the reasoning behind OpenID — I’ve always found the actual implementations of OpenID to be needlessly cumbersome. But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about how a parenthetical in a comment by DHH on a HN post about the news helped me realize something huge about my experiences in the open source community.
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The “mobile web” may look more like the web we know and love as devices get more powerful, but there will always be a place for a bit of customization in the name of improved UX on mobile browsers. CSS media queries go a long way toward accomplishing this, but you may find yourself wanting to do more. Ask around or do some searches, and you’ll find the usual answer to supporting mobile devices in Rails involves adding a MIME alias for text/html named “iphone” or “mobile” with register_alias, then forcing a mobile request’s format to this MIME for use with respond_to. This can work, but it’s a huge pain in the neck, and I believe there’s a better way. Read on.
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With the of the Facebook registration tool, there’s no doubt that you, the intrepid Rails developer, will be looking into it as a possible means of new user signup, either by choice or by client request. My preference has always been to limit an app’s dependence on Facebook as much as possible. I guess it’s a holdover from my hardcore OSS zealot days, or something — though I never had a hacker beard, I can’t help feeling there’s something inherently evil about Facebook (apart from their love affair with PHP ;)). Anyway, I recently implemented something very much like this feature using Devise and OmniAuth, so I thought I’d share.
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