mradcliffe | fdiv.net

Posted by mradcliffe on 2011.12.21 @ 23:49

Filed under:

The Chaos tool suite (ctools) is collection of useful methods intended to help Drupal developers create complex interfaces without duplicating too much effort.

Drupal 7 introduced a new Form API element: Vertical Tabs. When you set a parent element as this Form API type, then any child elements that are of type fieldset are displayed as vertical tabs instead of as in the traditional fieldset. Unfortunately for us developers, the documentation does not provide an example of how to use Vertical Tabs properly, but with some trial and error you can do it.

However, this new Vertical Tab Form API element doesn’t work in modal multistep wizard forms created with ctools. [more...]

Git-ing Drupal contrib patches done

Posted by mradcliffe on 2011.06.18 @ 16:06

Filed under:

In not-so-recent news, Drupal migrated the drupal.org project repository from CVS to Git in late February, 2011. My experience with Git previous to this has been as a user fetching source code of x.org, mesa, dri, and other various Linux and Unix projects.

As a user, not a developer, I found the Git work flow confusing. I did not need to make local commits and it was hard to wrap my head around bringing in changes from multiple remote repositories.

As a PHP developer, I first grasped the work flow at Columbus GiveCamp 2010 when I needed to make a github account for the branch of the Audio module we hacked on. As well, some Ruby guy had a nice Git work flow diagram, which I promptly forgot all about until the not-so-recent event above. [more...]

When did Firebug get so terrible?

Posted by mradcliffe on 2011.04.13 @ 11:33

Filed under:

Firebug is one of those vital extensions for web developers and designers who use Firefox. I have been faithfully updating it whenever it whines at me to update it, which is usually every minor version, and it pretty much just works. Firebug and I have a romance of debugging HTML, CSS, and more recently the Javascript and JQuery that I use in Select Other, Processing, and some more recent custom development for Slight High.

The honeymoon ended recently… [more...]

A Tale of Two Chairs

Posted by mradcliffe on 2010.02.13 @ 11:11

Filed under:

It was the best of products and it was the worst of products. It was a tale of one man trying to find an affordable chair.

Several years back I shopped at WalMart and bought a card table with four folding chairs for around $50. I was really disappointed because I didn’t think a card table would be worth more than $30 or so. This story however is not about the card table, but about chairs. [more...]

The Black Apple Strikes!

Posted by mradcliffe on 2008.07.16 @ 08:10

Filed under:

It took a few minutes for cwright and smokris to realize what was different yesterday. Yes, the days had finally come. I had begun to shave my proverbial neckbeard. More than year after and much like similar happenings, 7/15/08 is a day that shall live in infamy.

I have an Apple product once again. 黒林檎（くろりんご、kuroringo）is born! [more...]

Is Smaller Better?

Posted by mradcliffe on 2008.02.03 @ 23:39

Filed under:

In the past couple of months I thought about spending some money on either a Nintendo Wii or a multi-purpose media box (not to mention my anxiety over buying an unmodifiable blackbook). Over the past 3 years I’ve looked at smaller cases as “better”. Before that it was always the full tower case that provided more room and ease-of-use. In this vein I’ve been looking at the world of mini-itx for the past several months.

VIA created the mini-itx specification for itself, but since its creation other companies started creating motherboards with this spec and recently so has Intel. The spec allows for a low-power consumption CPU, which is great for point-of-sales machines, thin clients, and more. The other use of mini-itx, popular amongst personal users, is as a Home Theater PC (HTPC) or media center. [more...]

fAIL: The Self-Replicating Network Connection

Posted by mradcliffe on 2007.12.11 @ 09:55

Filed under:

Good morning gentle readers. I opened up my craptop this morning to witness the struggles of what seemed to be a laptop battling cancer. No, this was not another case of opteron cancer. Instead I found that Windows, unable to cope with my Cisco Aironet 350 wireless card, was creating network connections one after another in the system tray. [more...]

The Feast, it's Ruined — My Quest For Eggo Waffles

Posted by mradcliffe on 2007.09.13 @ 08:09

Filed under:

Updated: now with response.

I thought to myself this morning — I want an Eggo Waffle. You see, I have never had one, but have always been interested. There were some in the freezer that Robert had bought, removed from their packaging because of his space-saving ways.

Naturally I found the need to prepare an Eggo Waffle to the correct specifications as I wanted to make sure that I was having the correct Eggo experience (microwave, toast, pan fry, what?). To my surprise the feast was ruined (credit for the title), and breakfast was not magically delicious. [more...]

Project Hayate - Prolonging the Inevitable - Part 1

Posted by mradcliffe on 2007.05.12 @ 20:42

Filed under:

Author’s Note: Forgive this preamble I promise that they’ll be juicy links and google page rank increases in Part 2.

After my October escapade in Boston — with a brief layover at Yon Reptile Campaign — Lifeâ„¢ decided to shine a ray of hope in my general direction, after Thanksgiving. However, quick to grant me access to enough income to pay rent, Lifeâ„¢ viciously raped my ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, and I was unable to use MPlayer to play movies, use GL to play games, or whatever else we non-Apple people do with our video cards. [more...]

Whiter than a Hatfield Family Reunion

Posted by mradcliffe on 2006.10.09 @ 10:39

Filed under:

[Editor’s note: This post (including the above title) was written by mradcliffe immediately following a day spent with project ruori. It is unedited and uncensored, and is presented to the reader as a demonstration of the deleterious effects of association with said collective.]

It was brought to my attention a couple of weeks ago that I would be “performing” with project ruori at PURE. I wouldn’t say “brought to my attention.” More like “forced upon my sleepy eyes as I sat entrapped away from my own home.” I had only planned on seeing Phung before he left, but poor logistics and fate led me to PURE. [more...]