Links from December 2011

Links for Thursday 1 December 2011
OSM terrain layer (tecznotes)
Some lovely looking terrain maps, and lots of words I don't understand. it's hard to remember what online maps were like only ten years ago, and now the ability to tinker with stuff like this.
HTML5 Doctor, helping you implement HTML5 today
Some nice, sensible discussion on individual HTML5 elements.
LocalWiki - The open-content, open-source effort to share the world's local knowledge
This looks very nice. Open source, nicely designed, good idea. (via @mala)

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Links for Friday 2 December 2011
I work for a large multinational tech company, I regularly hire woman for 65% to 75% of what males make. I am sick of it, here is why it happens, and how you can avoid it. : TwoXChromosomes
One reason women are paid less than men, plus lots of tips on negotiating a better salary. (via @cshirky)

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Links for Saturday 3 December 2011
NFL: The All-22 Football Footage the League Won't Show You - WSJ.com
Almost funny, how the NFL doesn't want fans to see footage that would help them understand the game better, because then the mistakes of players and coaches might be more obvious. (via Kottke)

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Links for Monday 5 December 2011
Stoke-on-Trent Community News & Politics | Pits n Pots
The "hyper-local" one(?) man news website that's one of two projects to receive funding from Simon Kelner's new Journalism Foundation.

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Links for Tuesday 6 December 2011
Home - Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS
Interesting as an in-depth discussion of structuring CSS for a large project, something I'd like to see more of. (via Tom Taylor)

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Links for Wednesday 7 December 2011
Observations on film art : Pandora’s digital box: In the multiplex
Great in-depth look at digital cinemas, the technology and business. Next year more than half the world's cinema screens will be digital, not film. (via Snarkmarket)

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Links for Monday 12 December 2011
Once Upon - today and tomorrow
Lovely reworking of Google+, YouTube and Facebook in the style of the 1997 web. I am always going to love the various looks of the 1990s web. (via Waxy)
Debunking the Cul-de-Sac - Design - The Atlantic Cities
Looking at the change of US city layouts from grids to increasingly dead-end cul-de-sacs. (via Tom Taylor)
Knyle Style Sheets — Warpspire
Nice idea, a parseable format for commenting CSS. (via Dotcode)
Types Plugin - Create Custom Post Types and Manage Custom Fields
From the people behind WPML (so it works well with that) this plugin does both custom post types and fields. Some slightly rough edges (it's new), and no relationship field, but otherwise good. (And no need to use the accompanying pay-for Views plugin.)
WordPress › Custom Post Type UI « WordPress Plugins
There are loads of Custom Post Type plugins (or you can do it in manually in code) and this seemed like one of the better ones.
WordPress › Advanced Custom Fields « WordPress Plugins
From the myriad of WP custom fields plugins this seemed like about the best. Nice UIs and a very handy 'relationship' field. Unfortunately it didn't quite work well with WPML.
WPML - The WordPress Multilingual Plugin
Comprehensive plugin for translating and managing a multilingual site built on WordPress. Multi-language Posts, Pages, Custom Post Types, Themes, etc. Inevitably a bit complicated and slightly kludgy, but seems to work well.
A Better Related Posts Plugin – Nicolas Kuttler
I haven't fully tested this with lots of real content yet but an initial view suggests this is nicely tweakable, and easy to use. And works with Custom Post Types. And (so far, I think) WPML.
Introducing Rickshaw: A JavaScript toolkit for creating interactive time series graphs | shutterbits
Bookmark a couple of JavaScript graphy libraries and a new one pops up like magic! (via @revdancatt)
Wordpress posts order - Post Types Order | Nsp Code
Very simple way to re-order posts. Handles Custom Post Types. $25 Advanced version is nicer, and is compatible with WPML.
TimThumb - Image Resizer for WordPress
Dynamic generation of differently-sized images for WordPress using GD.
WordPress › CMS Tree Page View « WordPress Plugins
Looks like it might be a good way to organise pages in WordPress. Lets you reorder Custom Post Types (but not standard Posts), and works with WPML.
Emprise JavaScript Charts™ :: 100% Pure JavaScript Charts
Another charting library. Looks good too I think. Non-watermarked version is $100 upwards.
JS Charts - Free JavaScript charts
Looks like a good library for drawing charts/graphs in JavaScript. Costs $39 upwards for a non-watermarked version.

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Links for Sunday 18 December 2011
Why Spotify can never be profitable: The secret demands of record labels — Tech News and Analysis
A look at the "demands that digital music companies [like Spotify, Rdio, etc] are compelled to agree to" by the major record labels. "Onerous" would be a word. (via Blech)
Crosswords: the meow meow of the 1920s | Crosswords | guardian.co.uk
A lovely selection of quotes from 1920s newspapers about how the new mania for crosswords was going to destroy society.
Vim: revisited
Lots of handy, sensible vim tips in here to revisit later. (via Infovore)
Astonishments, ten, in the history of version control < Francis is
A nice summary of advances in version control systems over the decades. With any technology it's easy to forget the many incremental changes that make up the current norm.

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Links for Monday 19 December 2011
HTML Elements and Attributes
Very handy-looking reference for HTML5 elements and attributes. (via Brett Terpstra)

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Links for Saturday 24 December 2011
Fuji X10 EXR camera, suggestions for optimum performance: Digital Photography Review
Bookmarking because should I get one of these (a big IF) I won't remember where this article was.

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Links for Sunday 25 December 2011
French expats to get their own MPs | World news | The Guardian
That's interesting, dividing the world outside France into 11 constituencies, with an MP for each representing French expats living there.

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Links for Monday 26 December 2011
Antique pocket watches from Pieces of Time - Worldwide Mail Order
I love stumbling across old-fashioned sites. Maybe this style could infer well-used, long-lived, authenticity. "To avoid lengthy pauses while the images load a fast modem, at least 14400, should be used."
Transm.js (javascript programmable image transitions)
A huge range of transitions that can be added to HTML images. All those things you avoid in PowerPoint.
Close Pixelate · David DeSandro
JavaScript to pixelate images, in a variety of styles, eg like Chuck Close. Very configurable, multiple layers, pixel shapes, etc.

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Links for Tuesday 27 December 2011
Google Maps Free Alternatives « Fubra
A nice summary of the alternatives to Google Maps. I don't do this stuff frequently enough to keep up.
Why (and how) we've switched away from Google Maps - Nestoria Blog
A nice explanation of Nestoria switching from Google Maps to OSM with MapQuest, Leaflet and Mapstraction. Also worth it for the paragraph on Google's poor salesmanship.
Michael Neill reviews ‘Medicinal Cannibalism...’ ... and ‘Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires’ ... · LRB 1 December 2011
About "mummy", the processed remains of humans that was considered a valuable medicine as recently as the 19th century. (Subscribers only)
WordPress Hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting from WP Engine
Looks good, with some nice features. But not cheap compared to more generic hosting options. (via Brett Terpstra)
Around City of London in Colour aka London Scenes - British Pathe
Some nice bits of (silent) colour film of the City of London from 1961. (Thanks Mum!)

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Links for Wednesday 28 December 2011
Said the Gramophone: BEST SONGS OF 2011
As ever, StG's top 100 tunes of the year is a lovely listen.

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Links for Friday 30 December 2011
Five Years After Banning Outdoor Ads, Brazil's Largest City Is More Vibrant Than Ever
I'd love this in London. Well, any and every city really. (via Blech)

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