Hoovy’s Essential Firefox Extensions 


No doubt all you web designer/developers have heard about the impact of Internet Explorer 7 will have on the web. We dread what it might mean for style sheeting (are they going to be standards compliant?). So we’re probably going to stick with Firefox for the time being.

Anyway, here’s a bunch of firefox extensions that make the entire web design/development process easier:


Web Developer - The essential web designer/developer extension. You can’t call yourself either unless you have this.

MeasureIT - Get the exact height and width of any element with this handy little nugget of gold.

Del.icio.us - There is another Del.icio.us extension floating around but this one is the best.

GSpace - Lets you upload content to your Gmail account, acting like an FTP program. The coolest feature without a doubt is being able to add .exe files (although I can’t imagine Google liking that)

ColorZilla - Now you don’t need to ‘print screen’ and then paste into Photoshop to grab the colour information. And the extension fits nice and snug at the bottom left of the browser.

And finally… this isn’t a firefox extension but I thought I’d throw it in here anyway since I’m talking geek and all. If you MUST use Internet Explorer, then choose the Maxthon browser instead (PC only). It runs on the IE engine but uses tabbed browsing, pop-up blockers, RSS support, skins, etc… I use this browser at work to test my pages in but it’s a much better alternative than the plain Jane IE anyway.

 
 
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Friday, March 31 2006
 
Geek
 

Flickr Favourites 

Having not taken a decent photo for a few weeks, I regularly surf the Flickrites to get some inspiration. Here are some of my recent(ish) favourites:

Look Up, Mr Cameron
‘Look Up, Mr Cameron’ by Fack to Bront

nata
‘nata’ by sk8rsherman

Return my leg!!!
‘Return my leg!!!’ by Place Under The Sun

On A Roll
‘On A Roll (revised)’ by Alive in Calgary

065D11545
‘065D11545′ by Paulgi

 
 
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Monday, March 27 2006
 
Photography
 

Southland Tales poster 

Southland Tales
Due out in the latter half of this year, Richard Kelly’s follow-up to Donnie Darko, Southland Tales is no doubt highly anticipated for Darko fans. I remember in film class when the lecturer was discussing the line-up of films for the weekly screenings, 80% of the students requested Donnie Darko as a possible screening choice. It speaks volumes to the younger generation, something which our lecturer couldn’t grasp.

Southland Tales looks set to be another multi-layered visual exercise for Kelly. The website has been slightly updated although there’s really nothing substantial yet. But to quote the trivia section of the IMDB’s page:

In addition to the feature film, an expanded version of Southland Tales will be presented as a nine-part interactive experience with the prequel saga to be published as six separate 100 page graphic novels, each written by Kelly. The graphic novels will be released over a six month period early in 2006 leading up to the film’s release with the feature film comprised of the story’s final three chapters. In addition, the film’s official website will be one of the largest and most elaborate ever designed for a feature film. Richard Kelly describes the graphic novels as a “work in tandem with the website, creating a more epic multimedia experience for those interested in taking the plunge.”

If it’s anything like the Donnie Darko website, it should prove fascinating. What I love is how these emerging filmmakers are using the convergence of media formats to expand the film’s universe and doing it well. I’m not just talking about having a website or publishing content via mobile technology but giving viewers a real sense of story and myth. That’s where the power of film and new media lies.

 
 
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Thursday, March 23 2006
 
Film General
 
Previous Ramblings