Impatient? Jump to the how.

What is a symlink/junction?

Symbolic links are file system pointers, where one folder points to another, and all paths beneath the first folder are transparently translated to paths beneath the second. As an example, lets create a sym-link from /usr/http to /usr/mydocs/websites/ws1/current-ver this means that if you ask for /usr/http/html/page1.html, you get given /usr/mydocs/websites/ws1/current-ver/html/page1.html.

The beauty is that as they are an actual part of the file system, programs don’t realise they are pointing to a symlink (this is abstracted by the operating system).

Why are they so useful?

Imagine you want to re-arrange you folders on your web server? Every time you want to change the hierarchy, you have to update you http.config file and possibly restart the server. Instead, point your root at a symlink, and set the symlink to point to the file repository. Want to rearrange? Copy across, make your changes, and then just update the symlink- apache instantly loads the files from the new location (and doesn’t even know they’ve moved underneath).

I develop websites with a local webserver running on my machine. Each project I have on the go lives in a new folder, and needs it’s own root. Instead of updating http.conf all the time, I just repoint the symlink. I can also put a local shortcut on my desktop to “current web project files” which points to the symlink- I’m left with a single point of change.

How Windows made the symlink into a Junction

Junctions are Windows versions of symlinks. The caveats are; they only work on NTFS, and Windows don’t by default ship a junction creator. Step in Mark Russinovich of SysInternals. Mark is a serial hacker, whose main accomplishments centre around his debugging and monitoring tools for app development on Windows. What he developed was so superior to Microsoft’s stuff, they adopted it and you can now get all his tools via TechNet. In particular, a wee program called Junction.

How to do it

1. Check the file system you want to use is NTFS. File systems can be converted from FAT32 to NTFS (but not back) without loosing files. Try the convert command from the windows command line.
2. Download the Junction creator from Microsoft.
3. Get making some junctions, and save yourself a lot of effort!

This blog entry is unreserved link-love. In particular, the Janitor (re-designed and re-named to scrambler) trousers are something special. I am convinced I could live my entire life without needing another pair of trousers.

Check ‘em out, their site is here: http://www.howies.co.uk/

The Festival: A perfect vision for the future?

As well as its many flavours, local unsigned artists are being given the opportunity to play alongside headline acts like HowieB, Gilles Peterson, and DJ sets from the likes of Pendulum, Bloc Party and Zero7. This aint no church fete.

Over and over again the community focus of the event comes through- local kids are being given uique opportunities to experience an epic media event. Unsigned bands are gonna be playing on big stages, with lots of people watching. Local community centres are being given tickets and other opportunities. Students and other local community organisations like Grassroots unsigned are being pulled in.
And of course, all the profits are being given away. Just like that. And three of the four charities are based locally (the Other is Oxfam).

Pitching in

Although I didn’t design the website I’ve been involved in various bits of media production, consulting on promotional issues, dealing with advertisers and every other thing that shouldn’t be distracting me from degree level exams.

So, there it is, a music festival with a heart- and a project I’m very grateful being involved in.

• The Official Future Perfect Website
• The ticket-web address for buying tickets
• A Google map and Google Calendar listing.
  ]]> http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/04/26/future-perfect-festival/feed/ http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/04/17/back-to-opera/ http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/04/17/back-to-opera/#comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:30:40 +0000 Alex http://handsandfeetdesign.com/?p=24 Right now, I’m browsing the web with Opera. I don’t paticularly like Opera, I think it’s pretty ugly, and almost no Google services work with it. But on the upside it’s quick. And most importantly, right now, it works.
  
  Internet Exploder I wrote off for everything but testing web-pages a long time ago. When IE7 came out it confirmed everything I didn’t like about it: clunky, under-featured, sluggish and it makes web-pages look horrible.

  Safari is so ugly it’s not worth a mention, and dubious Ajax behaviour ruled it out.

  Mozilla Firefox has it’s foibles, but with add-ons like Firebug, and a good mix of standards support as well as Google powered services working on it, it was ideal. Well, kinda. The hitch?

  I just couldn’t be dealing with a browser that chomped it’s way through 300,000k of memory (when I only had 512mb plugged into my machine). I knew that Opera could run off about 6k (and a damn site quicker, too). I’d read FF3 had about a gazillion memory leaks plugged, so I thought, “I’ll install a BETA”.

  It was BETA5, and after that many goes, I thought it might actually work. How wrong I was.

  True, it used way less memory. Start-up was still slow. There were some good features, but it knocked out all the add-ons I depend on. And most annoyingly, it crashed all the time Like, all the time..

  Loads of tabs, no tabs, Gmail, about:blank, flash, no-flash, plugins, no-plugins. Any which way, it just falls over all the time. The Feedback Agent (which never really worked for FF2) still didn’t work, and so the good folks developing Firefox don’t get the reports that my web browser has a life of about 4 minutes before crashing out.

  Firefox 2 has just released another update, 2.0.0.14. I knew when enough was enough. More memory leaks than a sieve, it still worked. Right?

  Problem: Firefox 3 crippled my profile. Firefox 2 wont even run, it just crashes (or hangs) on start-up. Can I be bothered creating new profiles, transferring settings, installing add-ons, wasting time in the process just to get online? Nope.

  All in all: dreadful. So it’s back to Opera.

  ]]> http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/04/17/back-to-opera/feed/ http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/04/07/samsung-pc/ http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/04/07/samsung-pc/#comments Mon, 07 Apr 2008 17:51:26 +0000 Alex http://handsandfeetdesign.com/?p=23

  Sometimes, when you spend ages trying to work something out, you promise yourself you’ll write it down, in the hope that it’ll help someone else… so, this post is in exactly that spirit.
  
  This post is useful to Windows XP users who have problems with connecting up their Samsung mobiles. Everyone else- this article will be useless!

  A review of the phone will follow once I’ve had more time to check it out, but for now, here’s a synopsis of the problem I had trying to connect my new Samsung G600 to a PC with a USB cable.

  If you plug in a Samsung G600 to your computer using a USB cable, even if you’ve installed the sync software, you’ll probably be confronted with a nice error: the data is invalid. The Samsung software that comes on the disk with the phone wont recognise the phone, and Windows will try and install it, but will fail.

  Having been pleased with my new phone thus far, I was disappointed. I assumes a quick Google would fix it. It did, but the bizarre problem, which 90% of users will never bother working out how to fix, renders the PC-phone connections facilities useless. I was disappointed with Samsung. Anyway, I worked out how to fix it.

  1. Install the latest software from the Samsung website
     I wont link to it, because it looks like the kind of site that changes its permalink structure along with its webmaster’s socks- just give it a quick google, it’s easy to find. I don’t know if the new version is vital, but it has some features that aren’t on the disc that comes with the phone, and that software wont auto update to the new version.
  2. Fixed the ballsed up registry entry
     The problem I had was rooted in the registry- a bad place to make mistakes.
     

     Damaging the system registry is the fastest way to transform your PC into a novelty CD player. Don’t blame me if you breaks everything! Probably a good idea to make backups and all the other good things you ought to do but always forget to now, then.

     Open up the registry editor by hitting Win+R, typing regedit and hitting enter. Once inside you need to find the appropriate keys: navigate to:
     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE » SYSTEM » ControlSet001 » Enum » USB and open that key up to reveal the set of keys inside.

     You will see lots of Keys- (they look like folders) all of them have unintelligible names like Vid_04cb&Pid_016&MI_00. (The top few have sensible names like “Root_HUB”). Each of these keys refer to a device that the computer recognises when the device is plugged into it. We need to find the Samsung ones. Easiest way: expand the first level of each of these keys by working from the bottom of the list up; hitting all the [+] icons. Each key has a set of values inside; were’ interested in LocationInformation- scroll through all the keys you’ve just opened up by selecting the top one in the left hand pane of the registry editor, and using the arrow keys to scroll down until the LocationInformation entry has the word SAMSUNG in it. When you’ve found the right key (folder); right click on it (the one that’s called Vid_xyz) and click Permissions…. Check both Allow boxes, and then click the Advanced button. In the dialog that comes up check the box “Replace permission entries on all child objects…” and press OK. Confirm that choice, and then press OK.
     Repeat this process for all the Keys which refer to your phone functions (if you have other Samsung stuff installed that works ok, leave it alone).

     Click OK and close whatever you opened, to get yourself back into the real world. Now try connecting your phone.

  That should fix it!

  ]]> http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/04/07/samsung-pc/feed/ http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/23/photography-and-child-protection/ http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/23/photography-and-child-protection/#comments Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:32:50 +0000 Alex http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/23/photography-and-child-protection/ This post is about taking photos of children (or vulnerable adults) in a child-protection friendly manner for briefs such as documenting school events.

  A few times I’ve been tasked with taking photographs with strict child-protection controls- for example in South Africa documenting an orphanage which homes HIV+ orphans, and in the UK, promotional material for youth events- with the obvious issues of identifiable children in the photographs.
  Taking photographs in this environment can be tricky- here are my tips for producing good photographs which cover your brief and respect child-protection guidlines.

  1. Before you start: What is the brief- have you been asked to take photographs? If not- think really carefully about how your snapping could be perceived. If you’ve been asked- by whom- does the person have suitable authority? Have they obtained permission from guardians? If not, don’t go there at all. No means no.
  2. Prepare: From a child protection point of view, consider permission forms, taking along some form of ID or a business card to reassure people of your legitimacy and accountability. People are assured if they know who is taking photos, why and that they could access them. Who knows, parents might get in touch to order prints or commission portraits. In general: be accountable and flexible.
     From a creative point of view, consider meeting the brief- if it’s to show kids at play, consider shots of their toys, sand, their paintings and grubby fingers- it’s amazing how much can be implied without featuring individuals. If the shoot is to emphasise sorrow, think about the postures possible without faces.
     If there are likely to be people you know wouldn’t mind your taking photos, for example if there is a youth event and you know some of the parents who will be happy for you to take photos,
  3. Connect: Even if the shots you finally produce can’t contain head-shots, don’t ignore faces- to take photos of kids well you need to connect, be friendly. Make sure you give yourself enough material without faces, but take some with them in- and remember to edit carefully.
  4. Edit and review: When reviewing consider the limitations- exactly how vague must the photos be? Can a child be identified from your photo? Always show the material to whoever bears final responsibility and explicitly discuss the suitability of shots used in terms of child-protection issues. Mark your stock so that you don’t accidentally use it elsewhere.

  Some examples

  Click a shot for a larger view.

  Here a shot that doesn’t show the child’s face manages to express an awful lot about her surroundings.

  

  

  Taking photos of this kid I made a good friend- before these shots we’d messed around for ages, taking it in turns to take photos of one another- obviously all of the shots I couldn’t use, but it built up a repore- later on I got him to wave his arms around and cover his face.

  Kids love playing and props can be real handy. Bring along a hat or a scarf. If the kids are doing blind-folded races like here, then go with it.

  
  
  This scenario was a craft morning at the local sunday-school- it’s all about the activities, so focus on the hands and activities are good.

  These images are hosted on Flickr.

  ]]> http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/23/photography-and-child-protection/feed/ http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/23/workspaces/ http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/23/workspaces/#comments Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:56:04 +0000 Alex http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/23/workspaces/ Bitt posted a while back on workspaces (as in, the desk where you work)- asking- “what does it look like?“. In the spirit of “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” a lot of people responded by posting to the Flickr Workspaces group. I did too, and a couple of people ooh’d and aah’d about my view…

  At the moment I have two homes- whilst university is on I live in Durham. I work in a nice wee room which has unfortunately no windows I can look out of. The land-lord provides a teensy desk so to save space I’ve stacked by laptop behind my monitor with the screen in portrait format. Keeping the desk clear, with everything to hand makes for more productivity.. ish.

  When term ends I head back to my folks’ home in the Peak District where my window is somewhat larger…. and the view isn’t bad either!

  I think having a positive workspace is important- but as most of the discussion is about productivity; I think it’s fair to say a lot of folks are too busy wasting cash on fancy displays and new hardware to actually get any work done.

  ]]> http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/23/workspaces/feed/ http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/23/moojax-comment-posting-moved/ http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/23/moojax-comment-posting-moved/#comments Sun, 23 Mar 2008 10:14:14 +0000 Alex http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/23/moojax-comment-posting-moved/ This post has been moved to a new location at:

  http://handsandfeetdesign.com/mcp/

  ]]> http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/23/moojax-comment-posting-moved/feed/ http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/21/mootools-versus-jquery/ http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/21/mootools-versus-jquery/#comments Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:24:22 +0000 Alex http://www.new.handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/21/mootools-versus-jquery/ MooTools and jQuery are both JavaScript libraries- frameworks which make JavaScript easier, faster and more reliable. Although they are slightly different, it’s very much a one-or-the-other decision as to which one you’ll use to build a site.

  To get rid of the suspense, here’s my judgement:

  Sorry, jQuery- you’re just too cumbersome to get to grips with, and your homepage is just plain ugly.

  And that’s despite jQuery being the weapon of choice for both the BBC and apple.
  Let me explain why.

  It’s worth pointing out that in my experience jQuery and MooTools are horses for slightly different courses. jQuery is about instantly giving a developer nice easy functions- fade this in, fade that out, AJAX-ify that. It’s a set of ‘products’ you can apply to your page. MooTools is more strictly a framework- the functions that come with it and the documentation place emphasis on delivering code functionality- more fundamental pieces like building blocks to build into the end packages that you might get in one go from jQuery.
  You might wonder why that makes MooTools better in my opinion- well I guess it’s that unlike many people, I’ve a lot of experience with JavaScript, and I like using it to do unusual and uncommon stuff. And I also like to customise. jQuery takes the apple approach to design- it bests guesses your preference, and just gives you a fade out. MooTools much more obviously gives you opportunities to customise, to decide the exact transition, time frame, colours, ad infinitum.

  MooTools, though you often need a few more lines to get what you want done, just makes way more sense. jQuery might accomplish something with one line, but it tends to be a long complicated line, where you can’t see which bits do what. MooTools might need three lines- but three lines which each make perfect intuitive sense, where you can see how to modify your code to get a longer transition, or add another function to some effect.

  It’s worth pointing out that MooTools is a bit quicker, but jQuery is a lot nicer in terms of namespace- it’s only footprint is (optionally) the dollar ($) function. So in theory, jQuery will site nicely with any other JavaScript or libraries without colliding. In my experience, however, I’ve found that using jQuery will invariably break anything I’ve done with MooTools- yah boo sucks.

  At the moment, despite a shocking lack of decent documentation jQuery is very much more popular. One day I’ll sit down and learn how to use it- but for now I’m much happier with my MooTools.

  ]]> http://handsandfeetdesign.com/blog/2008/03/21/mootools-versus-jquery/feed/