Hello.

This post, part 8 of a series about my first AJAX application, discusses my return to Perl programming after a year of focusing on C# and .Net. I needed to solve cross-domain scripting issues when calling a web service directly from the webpage. My solution involved proxying the request through a Perl script on my server, which also hid my developer tokens. I found Perl's libraries easy to use and effective for this task. Future plans include more Perl scripting to aggregate data from different blogs and web services, leveraging the proxy to combine multiple calls and enhance functionality. I also learned a valuable lesson about using "content()" methods for POST operations instead of the query string. Read More

Making money blogging seems to require blogging about making money blogging! Darren Rowse of problogger.net reportedly earns a six-figure monthly salary from blogging. He offers advice on site design and content. While inspiring, I'll likely stick to my day job. Read More

In my last post about Perl, I forgot to mention my upcoming need for XML processing. Before I start looking at XML parsers, I'd appreciate recommendations for a lightweight Perl XML parser. My requirements include: lightweight, XPath support (potentially), SAX-like reader functionality, DOM support, and the ability to create XML documents (preferably via DOM or similar methods). Email me your suggestions! Read More

I'm excited about Technorati's new REST API for blog post tags! It lets developers display all the tags used on a site, which is super helpful. I've even created a simple tool using the API to show all the tags I've used on my site: http://www.kinlan.co.uk/cgi-bin/SiteInfo.pl. The API is easy to use and provides useful stats. I'm already thinking about how to incorporate it into my next project. Great work, Technorati! Read More

I just discovered the Technorati Tagger application (http://www.ultraseeker.com/tagbuilder). It's decent, converting user-generated tags into XHTML. This represents the simpler half of what I'm aiming to build in my upcoming AJAX application. Read More

In this part of my series on my AJAX application, I'm discussing the impact of external APIs. My use of APIs has made me realize how much more API access I want! I'd love to see broader API availability from feed/blog companies for statistics, retail companies for catalogs, news corporations for news feeds, and search companies for both results and more interesting APIs (like Yahoo's). Essentially, I want a central directory of companies offering these services, recognizing that I'm a consumer of their data. I'm also realizing how many APIs (REST and SOAP) are out there that I could leverage. I envision adding more dynamism to my apps, like analyzing blog post keywords to see their popularity, potential ad revenue, and related keywords. I could then cross-reference this with other sources to give viewers more feedback, such as related blog importance, link counts, and other connections. I could even offer localized product information, best buy deals, or second-hand options based on keywords. This isn't revolutionary, but I need help finding lists of companies that offer web APIs and useful RSS feeds. Readers, please share your knowledge! Read More

As a user of the Windows Blogger Tool, I've identified some desired features for future releases. These include HTML editing before posting, image and table insertion, custom style application, accurate list creation (ordered and unordered), and proper handling of element shading. While the tool is currently not comprehensive, it serves as a decent starting point. Personally, I value control over post content, so I'll likely use it for drafting and later refinement, enabling quicker text entry without immediate tagging or styling concerns. Read More

My first post using the new Blogger Word Blogging tool! It's easy to use and publishes really fast. I'm curious about HTML control since my AJAX tool outputs HTML. A few quirks: smiley icons show as "(", apostrophes look odd, and images/tables aren't supported. Planning a follow-up post with my feature requests. Read More

Blogger has released a new plugin for Microsoft Word called "Word Blogger" (or "Worger" as I'm calling it!). It allows direct posting of Word docs to blogs. I'm excited to try it out and see if it maintains formatting. This release is timely; I've been frustrated with the current WSIWYG editor and its limitations. Read More

I believe retailers need to embrace open APIs to their product catalogs and ordering systems to reach a wider audience. While I agree with Robert Scoble's view on the transformative potential of developer APIs in retail, I'm concerned about the slow pace of change. Costly per-call charges for APIs like eBay's hinder experimentation and development, especially for independent developers like myself. It's also difficult to find retailers who openly offer APIs. Amazon's free access model is a good example of how APIs can drive revenue. Are there any UK retailers offering cool, accessible web services? Read More

This is the fourth installment of my AJAX application development journey. I integrated the Technorati API, focusing on the Tag Query to gauge keyword popularity and refine tag selection for better exposure. While the API was helpful, it lacked features like tag ranking and related tags, and the TagQuery's slow performance forced its removal. Future development will involve optimizing the TagQuery (limiting results or using an asynchronous call manager) and potentially requesting a lightweight metadata interface from Technorati. Read More

In this third part of my series on my first AJAX application, I'm diving into the power of the Yahoo! API. It's been a learning experience, and I'm incredibly impressed with how much it offers compared to Google's. I've been exploring the Term Extraction and Related Searches APIs, and I'm starting to think about how to use the Contextual Search API. The Term Extraction API is great for pulling out keywords, while the Related Searches API helps me find relevant search queries. My app combines these to analyze blog posts and generate related searches. I'm hoping to use the Contextual Search API to add targeted search results. Future versions will incorporate more APIs, possibly from Technorati, to enhance functionality. Stay tuned! Read More

Robert Scoble's recent blog post mentions the increasing number of blogs and photo-sharing sites, questioning how people can keep up with all of it, especially within large families. I'm interpreting this as a hint towards a new, private social blogging tool designed for families to share updates, events, and other information. This tool could potentially aggregate family blogs, prioritize certain members' posts (like the head of the family), and allow for filtered viewing (e.g., kids only seeing other kids' posts). It could even facilitate conversations between family members through blog referencing. I'm curious if such a tool exists or has been attempted before, and welcome any thoughts or insights on this idea. Read More

The Feedster API has potential, but it's unclear what its purpose is. It would be more useful if it allowed content searches and provided metadata about searches, such as the number of blogs or pages a term appears in. Additional features like showing top searches and providing search result counts could be valuable. The current API requires a private key, which necessitates a proxy script for security. A simpler authentication method like Yahoo's Application ID would be preferred. Despite some limitations, the ability to publish search results as an RSS feed is a nice feature. Read More

My Technorati URLs appear to have been incorrectly formatted, causing parsing issues. Read More

In part 2 of my AJAX application journey, I'm tackling browser compatibility issues between Firefox and Internet Explorer. Key differences include handling XML node text, event triggers for synchronous XmlHttpRequests, and table object model inconsistencies. Looking ahead, I'm planning to componentize my JavaScript for better management and browser caching, and create an event-driven object model for my next application to improve structure and cross-browser functionality. My focus will be on supporting the lowest common denominator for broader browser compatibility. Read More

I haven't been updating the list of feeds that don't work in IE7 lately. I've been in contact with Sean Lyndersay, a Lead Program Manager on the RSS team at Microsoft, about this. He confirmed that the feeds I listed should work in IE7 Beta 1 and suggested there might be a bug in the RSS rendering code. I've also noticed all feeds seem to be broken for me in IE7, which he thinks could be a configuration issue on my end. Sean said the RSS rendering code has been completely rewritten for Beta 2 and is hoping that fixes the issue. I am also looking forward to IE7 Beta 2. Thanks Sean! Read More

I stumbled upon a helpful link about colour theory, which explains how to combine colours effectively. I'm fascinated by this concept and plan to research it further. Currently, my colour theory knowledge is limited to using shades of the same colour, such as SteelBlue and LightSteelBlue. I'll explore Google and Wikipedia for more information. I've bookmarked the link, despite my Favorites in IE7 crashing. Read More

IE7's synchronous XmlHttpRequest locks up all browser tabs during long requests, not just the active tab. Is this behavior expected or a bug? If you've encountered this problem, please email me so I can investigate further. Read More

I noticed a lack of referrals from Technorati and discovered my blogs weren't showing up in tag searches. The problem stemmed from my Technorati AJAX application, which was using single quotes instead of double quotes around the href attribute in the tag links. I've corrected the issue by changing the single quotes to double quotes in my application, and hopefully, this will resolve the problem with Technorati. While my application is now fixed, it raises the question of whether Technorati should be able to handle both single and double quotes. Read More