Darren Barefoot and Vancouver-based Nitobi posted a survey recently asking developers about their choices of development platforms.  While there wasn’t an overwhelming platform of choice, open-source tools ruled the day:
The interesting aspect is that there’s no one dominant language or platform. What does dominate the survey is open source, which comprises 80% of the platform responses, 84% of the Ajax framework responses, and 59% of the development tools responses. With the tools, Dreamweaver remains popular among designers, but a quarter of the responses were simple text editors. When asked what causes the most pain in web development, the first answer …read more

ThoughtFarmer has been cranking out the news lately, this one caught my attention since I helped build, rebuild, and throw my hands up in frustration several Intranets in the past:
Recently, IDEO embarked on a new project to empower their internal communities to create and manage their own online collaborative spaces. With more than 500 employees in eight offices around the world, they sought better ways to share knowledge and collaborate across physical distances.
“We knew that wikis promised much of what we were after,” says Gentry Underwood, project lead for the initiative. “But most of the tools on the market are …read more

ThoughtFarmer has been on my radar since Office 2.0 last summer.  I haven’t been a huge fan of wikis, but the ThoughtFarmer system isn’t really a wiki.  It is, well, a sophisticated, easy-to-use Intranet system.
 
This week ThoughtFarmer has released v 2.5 of their Intranet system, which focuses on using drag-n-drop for user control giving you the information you want when you want it.
You might think that the era of the Intranet is over, but actually it’s only beginning.  When SarbOx hit the scene user control and document management became a high priority item for public companies.  Now having tight control …read more

If you’re around Vancouver (which would probably include Victoria) and have a new web app to demo (Facebook, web 2.0, etc), put April 15 on your calendar as your day to show it off.
Gerald has put out the call for lightning talks for the upcoming VanAjax geektogether:
DateTuesday, April 15, 2008
Time2:15pm – 5:45pm
LocationVancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre, 999 Canada Place
Vancouver (Open)Social(Web)Camp incl. Facebook Developer Garage – Call for Lightning Talks, Call for App Nite Demos « Vancouver Ajax & Web 2.0 (3.0) Developer Group // VanAjax.com

Sign up is on the SocialCampVancouver page.
While our American cousins will be filing their taxes, …read more

WordPress is the bloggers platform of choice and with its array of plugins it can do nearly anything.  The WordPress Multiuser plugin BuddyPress let you turn a standard WPMU install into a powerful roll-your-own social network, now this plugin has been pulled into Automattic.
What I didn’t realize (doh!) was that BuddyPress was developed by Andy Peatling of Blaze New Media–in Vancouver!
This has been getting a lot of press today, and for good reason too because it tips Matt’s hand as to Automattic/WordPress’ plans for making a powerful, new social networking tool:

Vancouver’s BuddyPress goes Automattic | Techvibes Blog
Wordpress: Going after …read more

If all goes according to the (by the seat of my pants) plan I’ll be attending my first SXSWi this week.  I’m going to be doing double duty there covering it for b5media (therefore blogging here) and for Intruders Canada (Intruders is sending me there).
I’ll be a little busy I’m guessing, but I think we should have a Vancouver/Victoria/Canadian blogger meet up somewhere somehow.  Rebecca has the list of BC folks attending and Colleen Coplick is reporting for Techvibes.  Not to be left out, b5 is running the blog network camp chock full of cool folks.  So there should be …read more

Dabble DB continues to help their users use Dabble DB better with all their applications.  Today’s tip/tutorial is–Checking the right boxes–more on getting your UI just right in your application.
Might be simple, but if your users can’t use the application–then everyone’s time has been wasted.

While I’ve been catching up this week Strutta came out of stealth and Techvibes got the first post/scoop on this new online video-based game:
Strutta is an arena, a platform for video competitions, called “games”. A game is created with a theme, such as “Best George W. Bush Impression” or “Best Surprise Wedding Dance”. Users can submit videos for that theme, watch others, and vote which they think is the best.  A key rule is that a user must submit their own video: either they appear in it or are holding the camera. A broad set of categories makes space for …read more

It’s a simple thing, but user interface is so important and when developers care about that it makes a huge difference for users.  The folks at Dabble DB  have a post on their blog about combo boxes that is a good read.  Why?  Because it shows, to me at least, that they are thinking about what users need:
Today’s blog post isn’t about a new feature to Dabble DB, but to me, the user interface designer, it feels just as significant.
Interface design on the web can be both simple and complex. The simple path is often the wisest. Don’t deviate from …read more

Rob was commenting on Techvibes about the raft of game companies in Vangroovy:
As a non-gamer, it’s hard to really appreciate how large the industry is. I’ve put together a list of BC’s game studios – both developers and publishers – and I’m asking our readers for feedback. How many staff do these studios employ? Who’s the largest? Who’s buying who? Who are we missing? Please comment on this post. Source: The Gaming Industry in Vancouver
Not being a gamer either (I try, but fail so badly it’s sad), I’m interested as well.  Head over to Techvibes and give Rob all the …read more