Four posts in one day and it’s only two o’clock - can you tell that I don’t have a lot to do at work today? Mostly because I don’t really dare touch anything until the java boys (like java man but less hairy) have stopped beating the database with large sticks.

Anyway, want to see one of my favourite web sites? Dino Directory at the NHM is a very neat little site. A database of dinosaurs with a nice web front end that allows users to search and sort the data by a wide range of criteria - the large graphics lead novice users into a simple search by body shape function, whilst more advanced functions such as grouping by geographic and chronological proximity are readily available for more adventurous users. And then the results link through to the NHM’s picture library which is another hidden gem in itself.

It’s a shame that the front end coding isn’t as nice as the information architecture. Looking at the code it seems that the header and footer were created by someone who knows what they’re doing - CSS layout, accessible, etc. Whilst the actual Dino Directory code in the middle is tables based and full of errors. Shame.

There’s also an RSS feed to keep user up to date with the latest dinos to be added. This week saw the addition of the very cute sounding Wannanosaurus. Oddly, this seems to be the only RSS feed on the whole NHM site.

Anyway, here’s a lovely site based on a great idea and well implemented (just needs a little work to make it standards compliant and accessible), but… it’s very Web 1.0 isn’t it? How could one jazz this up to make it Web 2.0? Define a dinosaur microformat and provide an API to allow dino data to be reused on other sites? Allow users to drag and drop dinosaurs into a personal folder and then play top trumps with other users? Or, if it ain’t broken, don’t try to make it buzzword compliant?

Current Mood:  contemplative

There are no good mother’s day cards. They are all either revolting twee, or sickeningly soppy, or resoundingly unfunny.

Current Mood:  frustrated

… that creationists couldn’t get their feet any further down their throats, they come up with a real gem. Via Pharyngula, we learn that the according to the big brains at Answers in Genesis, only creatures with red blood are alive. Good one guys.

Current Mood:  giggly

Best headline in this morning’s Metro was “Man Killed by Gimp Suit”. I suspect Auton involvement but the newspaper gave some mundane explanation instead - UNIT misinformation in full swing.

According to the SFSFW Awards I’m in a minority these days for preferring Wargames Illustrated to Miniatures Wargames. I subscribe to the former but only pick up occasional issues of the latter. Yesterday, I bought the latest issue for the article on the conquest of the Canary Islands - Conquistadors versus Cavemen. I’m a bit miffed that the article (billed as part one) was just two pages long and did nothing more than give the geographical description of the islands.

There’s a new wargames mag - Battlegames - but its not being distributed to newsagents and whilst I can subscribe or order a sample issue online, there’s nothing like being able to flick through a copy to help decide whether it’s a worthwhile read (which clearly I should have done in WHSmiths yesterday prior to buying Miniatures Wargames). With luck, someone will be selling copies at Salute.

Apart from WI, and with Harbinger having folded the magazines I either subscribe to or buy every issue of are:

• Prehistoric Times
• Warpstone
• Ragnarok
• SFX
• Doctor Who magazine
• TV Zone

That doesn’t seem like too many (especially as some of them are published rather infrequently), so why do I never seem to have time to read them properly?

Current Mood:  complacent