GreaseMonkey Twitter Enhancer

I just published the first draft of a GreaseMonkey script for Twitter. I tweet frequently http://twitter.com/hising and sometimes I do it via the web (using Firefox) and there are some things I have come to be really annoyed about, first that the web do not automagically link hashtags to their search.So the first thing I did was to add this functionality. Next is to add extra functionality for following and grabbing status about tweeters in your list.

FrontEndBook.com Twitter Enhancer GreaseMonkey script on UserScripts

Is it on?

Pretty funny day today. It all started with Christian Heilmann posting this on Twitter:

Another simple, but very useful and needed web site: http://ismycomputeron.com

And Dion Almaer who runs Ajaxian.com followed up with the question we all had:

We just need a JSON version and then we are all set!

Of course Heilmann wrote a JSON API for this really useful service using YQL and posted it on Twitter.

@dalmaer that what YQL is for. Finally ismycomputeron.com as a jsonp api: http://is.gd/eXyo §

I figured we had to add another level of abstraction to this beast so I wrote a really simple plugin using jQuery making it easy to integrate into your web apps and posted it on Twitter.

@codepo8 Now as a jQuery-plugin http: //jsbin.com/ofiwi

After that Christian felt he had to let the world know about the R&D being done in different parts of the world on the topic “is it on”, so he blogged and tweeted about it.

But I know my script was actually not that good, it was not unobtrusive, and my fellow tweeter icaaq told me friendly but respectfully that:

@hising not the most unobtrusive script I’ve seen though

Even though my feelings were a little bit hurt, I took the time to rewrite the script in order to be more unobtrusive, and now you can find the new version here http://frontendbook.com/sandbox/is-it-on/

What to expect next in the evolution of is-it-on?

  • Widget for blogs
  • Mobile version (an iphone is not a computer right?)
  • Adding configurable options to the script (uppercase, lowercase etc)
  • Adding error handling to script

Whatever, it was good fun. More of that.

jQuery 1.3 Beta 2

We are getting closer to 1.3. The jQuery team has just released jQuery 1.3 Beta 2.

How to provide feedback:

  • Submit a bug to the jQuery bug tracker (you will need to create an account, first).
  • Be sure to include a simple test case for any problem that you’re experiencing (either attach the test case or provide a link).
  • Mention that you’re testing “jQuery 1.3 Beta 2″ (otherwise your ticket will get confused with another release).
  • Email a link to your test case and bug report to the jQuery Dev list so that the dev team will be notified about your issue.

Twitter Tweets Weekly Updates for 2009-01-04

2009 is the Year of jQuery UI

I found this post by Karl Swedberg on Learning jQuery interesting.

Two years ago I made the somewhat immodest claim that 2007 would be the “Year of jQuery.” Since then, jQuery’s popularity has grown in ways that none of the core contributors could have imagined. Now I’m ready to make another bold pronouncement: 2009 will be the year of jQuery UI. Here’s why:

Read the full story at Learning jQuery

jQuery UI, ThemeRoller and jQuery 1.3

jQuery UI ThemeRoller 2

jQuery UI ThemeRoller 2


jQuery UI is coming close to 1.6 and today a new version of the Themeroller application was released. Just before Christmas the first beta of jQuery 1.3 was released for testing.

News in jQuery UI 1.6

  • New classes for error, highlight and disabled states
  • Extended, sprite-based ThemeRoller icon set
  • Class system for adding rounded corners via CSS (Firefox and Webkit, gracefully degrades)
  • New ThemeRoller tool with inspector style view
  • Theme gallery with voting and user-generated themes
  • Improved documentation for generating custom themes and using the class framework

News in jQuery 1.3

  • Selector Engine (Sizzle)
  • DOM Manipulation rewrite
  • Event Namespaces
  • Event Triggering