Calvin, Hobbes and Susie all grown up

I have been a big fan of Calvin and Hobbes ever since I could remember. It’s a series of comics created by Bill Watterson about the adventures of a young boy Calvin (named after the theologian John Calvin) and his imaginary pet/stuffed tiger Hobbes (named after the philosopher Thomas Hobbes).

Bill Watterson strictly believed in that comics should be kept as an art form so he vehemently resisted merchandising of any sort which is why you would not see any Calvin and Hobbes toys, shirts, etc. (aside from the occasional sightings of the infamous, unlicensed, Calvin peeing on something car sticker) even though it would have probably netted him big money.

I guess, the reach and influence of the comic strip has been phenomenal so people started creating fan art of their own. Here is an example portraying Calvin, Hobbes and Susie all grown up to be young adults which I thought was very cool.

I think I am going to start re-reading some of the comics I have in the house

Hiding div blocks using Javascript DOM and Checkboxes

Lotus Domino has a unique function to hide certain elements of a design element called “Hide-Whens”. Basically, this text option can be set to hide a field, text or code based on a formula. But, if you plan on using this on the web and would like it to be triggered by a field change event, more than likely you will need to refresh the entire form so the hide-whens will take effect.

This is not pretty especially if you have several fields refreshing and controlling other fields or texts. Also, this presents other problems because constant refreshing slows down your application.

So the use of Javascript DOM for hiding objects inside a DIV can prove useful if you would like that users be able complete a form without refreshing it from the get go.

object.style.display=value

Toggling this DOM property’s value to “none” would work the same way as a hide-when when you can create a function from it using the fields on your form. For my example below, I used a checkbox field to trigger the function and toggle the display property based on the value of the field.

Here is a simple demo in HTML. This is easier though to implement in Notes as you can just place the function in the onchange event of a field. You can also further develop the function if you are using multiple checkboxes  or if you have a more complex rule on hiding/displaying the fields.

Use, the following function on the onchange event of your checkbox:

toggledisplay(‘div id‘, ‘field id‘, ‘value you would like to check‘);

Here is the javascript function:

function toggledisplay(divname, checkfield, checkvalue)
{
var count=0;
var fdivname = document.getElementById(divname);
var fcheckfield = document.getElementsByName(checkfield);

for (var z = 0; z <fcheckfield.length;z++) {
if (fcheckfield[z].checked) {
if (fcheckfield[z].value == checkvalue) {count=1;}
}
}

if (count==1 )
{fdivname.style.display = “”;}
else
{fdivname.style.display = “none”;}
}

On being IBM certified and the new Lotus Notes

Last week. I passed the exam to gain an IBM Certified Associate Developer Lotus Notes and Domino 7 certification. I previously held a Notes 6/6.5 certification, but since IBM retired that test, I needed to get certified in version 7 in order to progress to Advance Application Developer status.

I have always pondered if focusing on Lotus Notes development was a correct career move for me. There are some companies moving away from  Lotus Notes as the industry perception is that Lotus is a dying platform (not necessarily the consensus). But, enter the newest version that turned gold this year, version 8.5. My biggest turn on was the decision to move the IDE into Eclipse.

Eclipse originally started with IBM, which probably contributed to finding itself in Lotus Domino development. It already was being used in Rational Software Architect which was a replacement for some of the modules of Rational Rose. This IDE upgrade provides a lot of  drag and drop functionality which can be edited on the code level. Not to mention the usability of Eclipse in terms of coding Java and JavaScript. The introduction of Eclipse to the Lotus Notes application development will certainly open a lot of doors for developers and adapters.

On the highly touted Xpages

Xpages are the new design elements introduced in Lotus Domino Designer 8. They are forms specifically (as of now) for web development. Here is as blog entry I read showing how to join data from multiple views on Xpages and I’ve got to say, this is very cool. XPages  will probably single-handedly propel Lotus development into the Web 2.0 generation.  Here is another blog entry showing what Xpages opens up for developers (just the mention of AJAX partial refreshes and joining views makes me drool).

So, I guess the idea of Lotus Notes and Domino is an old, clunky, severly limited platform is a thing of the past. IBM certainly did itself (and a lot of loyal developers who’ve invested decades on Notes) a huge favor in providing a better tool for better applications more suited for today’s technology trend.

No Reservations finally visits Manila

We are big fans of the Travel Channel.  Our favorites shows include, Samantha Brown’s Passport Series, Andrew Zimmerns’s Bizarre Foods and of course, No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. Last February 16, they aired the episode where the latter finally visited the Philippines after constant requests by people over the Internet and the antics of a guy named Augusto.

To tell you the truth, I was a bit disappointed in a way because the episode seemed bland. It did not show fully what the country had to offer. It seemed like all they did, was eat something, somewhere in each segment. Although cultural food is one of the focuses of the show, given that the host is a chef, there was always something unique that Tony Bourdain would point out that will somewhat define the people of the places he visits.

Food is really one of the cornerstones of Filipino culture, but it is not everything, I wish they scheduled their visit on a festival like the Panagbenga,  the Ati-atihan in Kalibo or the Sinulog. They could have also featured a unique location, such as the caves in Sagada, the Rice Terraces, Palawan or Boracay. If they did this, maybe they would have noticed the happy-go-lucky, hospitable and humorous  people which is what really makes the Philippines stand out.

Embarking on the road less traveled

As promised to myself (haha), I will try to further my knowledge on web usability as this an important cornerstone of application development especially with  apps that require a lot of user interaction.

Usability is so important the the US government has deemed appropriate to set up the site usability.gov as their primary source of information on user centric design. I have started perusing the resources on this site particularly the Guidelines on Research Based Design & Usability.

Also, I’ve started on an Alan Cooper book, About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design. I’m not yet too far on the book and I will post more on the material once I get to finish it.

Down the road, I will probably push my manager to consider sponsoring me for a Human Factors International (HFI) series of seminars. Based on what I’ve read and heard, they are the premier training provider for software usability employing usability professionals and human behavior specialists. I’m also considering gunning for a Certified Usability Analyst (CUA) certification.

Whew, after reading all that, it seems like a lot of stuff to do. I think I will pace myself on all of this but will remain focused. I’m hoping to post updates in this category as I go along.

Bit by the recession bug

It felt like the opposite of being ‘touched by an angel’.

I remember my mom  asking if we were affected by all the hoopla about the recession here in the US and I answered, no. I felt confident since both Tin and I work in the IT industry that our jobs were in a way “recession proof”. I guess in these extraordinary times, nothing is a given.

No, we were not laid off or anything like that (knock on wood). We just learned that HP will be implementing an across the board pay cut of 10-15% for executives and 5% for exempt employees, which is a bummer since Tin works for HP. I know this is a far cry from the problems a lot of people are experiencing,  losing their jobs, foreclosing on their homes, unable to find credit for their businesses, etc. but it feels like a step backward in our goals and responsibilities right when we felt we were making some headway.

What to do now?

There are several items I think that we can do to ‘fight back’ and respond:

1. Start brown bagging everyday – I have been doing this a lot lately but I think I need do it everyday. It potentially saves us $5-$8  a day which translates to a savings of $100-$160 per month (doing the math actually encourages me more), aside from making lunch for me much simpler because I don’t need to go out or think about where to go.
2. Minimize eating out – We currently try to eat out only on weekends, probably 3-4 times. Bringing this down to a maximum of twice a week is a savings of around $200-$240 per month.
3. Curb the ‘gadget’ hunger – I am a self-confessed gadgetaholic, I guess this experience will strengthen my resolve.
4. Look for additional income – You will see this advice in almost all the finance blogs on the net, but the reality is, it is easier said than done. I think I will start with looking for stuff that I am not using at home and selling them off on Ebay or Craigslist.
5. Increase our value career wise – I recently received a Lotus Notes certification which I guess is a step in this direction. Probably looking for ways to increase our value in the eyes of the employer will be good thing in this economy.

Here is a CNN Money article which I read some time ago that gives some useful tips to recession proof our jobs. And here is a blog that I frequent which always has something to help people be more financially independent.

All in all, I think the key here is to be consistent throughout this crisis and focus on the goals.

Hello world!

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