As the Valtrex (valacyclovir HCl) ad says, “It’s not about a cure, it’s about suppression.”
Beautiful Children
My company, era//404 is working with author Charles Bock to design and develop the exploratory site for his first novel, Beautiful Children (Random House).
The Amazing Work of Ron Mueck
My father sent me a forward of this guy’s work. It’s quite amazing. Unfortunately, the pictures that I found online are only about 500px wide and I’m sure they don’t do Mr. Mueck’s artwork justice. Also, unfortunately, he had an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum (details below) that was only there until February 4, 2007, so I missed it. Anyway, take a look.
Blocking Flash Ads
As a graphic and web designer, I’m pretty sensitive to the idea of people blocking flash movies. However, the way I look at it, a user won’t block your flash if you’ve made it right. If the movie is truly interesting and part of the overall experience (as with most of the sites that I’ve proudly designed), a user comes to think of the Flash as an integral part of their browsing session. Granted, you could work for a company that creates rich media ads (as I have) for the expressed purpose of selling you the little blue pill—or giving you an online high school diploma, stock tips, etc.
Home Renovations
This week, we had our halls repainted and new carpeting put in. I’m still not sure about the wall colors, but I was vetoed in my argument that it wouldn’t match the carpeting by other owners in the building, so I couldn’t do much about that. Overall, though, the paint and carpeting are a huge improvement. What do you think?
In January, Jetco came by to seal our building. I think it’s a great improvement. What do you think?
New Flash Uploader
After much deliberation as to how to get the Flash File Uploader to work correctly in Safari on Macs, Mike and I decided to redevelop the filetype authorization to work with both file extensions as well as MIME types. This means that if the Uploader can distinguish filetypes, it will continue as before. If the filetype is returned as undefined, the Actionscript looks to the file extension to deem authorization.
Now I know what you’re thinking, and yes, it does create a security hole for users. Anyone wanting to upload malicious files may now simply change the extension of their virus and the PHP and Uploader treat it as benign. This is why my previous disclaimer still should be read, understood, and agreed to prior to downloading the .zip file with the Flash Uploader Installation Files. I don’t want anyone coming back to me with issues of malicious files on their server. Please, install at your own risk.
That being said, the New Flash File Uploader now has some pretty fun new features, aside from working in Safari. Below the uploader, there is a list of files that have been uploaded with a toggle to auto-thumbnail images on the server and display all information provided in the id3, MIME types and other metadata information. Movies won’t auto-thumbnail unless your host allows you to install FFmpeg on their server, where many won’t allow this (Cirtex does!) because of server load restrictions. Also, the index.php and Flash FLA file are both constructed so that you can skin them easily and quickly to match your application/site design.
Note that I can’t, unfortunately, suppress the alert that says “A flash script on this page is causing problems…” because it’s controlled by the browser and plug-in, and if you do click “Yes” to cancel the script, your large uploads will hang. Also, some of the tutorial on the following link may be a little outdated because of the new modifications to the script.
Special thanks goes out to Mike for taking over this project, which has already been retooled and sold to a number of clients as well as generated a ton of emails and comments from donline and era404 readers.
Enjoy! Comments and feedback always welcome.
Flash File Uploader Links
Flash File Uploader Installation Files
Use Direct Mode
