Backdrifter

As I was going through my morning routine, scanning news feeds and sipping coffee, my attention was grabbed by the TechCrunch headline “Skype Opens Up SkypeKit SDK To All Devices And Desktop Apps.” Being a developer and wanting deeper technical details, I eagerly click on over to SkypeKit. Rather than the detail I’m [...]

Gall’s Law:
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. The inverse proposition also appears to be true: A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be made to work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.

The ongoing efforts to define standard protocols for common web services have resulted in a wide variety of specifications. If you’re interested in the Internet’s plumbing, as I am, these are truly exciting times. One of the common pieces of functionality needed by all these specifications is discovery.
The most recent, and recommended, format [...]

Back in October, Tantek Çelik wrote an entry on the Microformats blog, featuring my online identity, jaredhanson.net, as an example of a beautifully styled hCard.
While I don’t claim to be particularly adept at web design, especially compared to the other two featured individuals (Tim Van Damme and Rogie King), my use of Ajax to display [...]