The most unappreciated tag in ColdFusion: cfelse

The idea to create a single serving site came about a long time ago, long before Wired's recent article hit newsstands. Having several domain names in the repository, it seemed like a good idea to throw up a simple, yet original one page site from time to time. But, no ideas have ever really jumped out and screamed at me to create.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, a single-serving site is a web site comprised of standalone page setup on a dedicated domain name that only has one purpose. They are usually strange or nerdy sites with a targeted audience, and they may be the next new way to communicate ideas and pass messages. They are becoming a very hot trend in the world of Twitter because they help keep it short, relevant and simple while adding a bit of flavor into the mix.

The idea has been around for a few years, and there are several examples out there. Is Twitter Down, Is Lost a Repeat, Sometimes Red Sometimes Blue and Jello Time, just to name some of the more basic ones.

Wired Magazine published an article in its August edition, titled How Do I Make a Single-Serving Site? Being a Wired subscriber and reader, the article reminded me of my desire to create single-serving websites on a more regular basis. The article also came with a new form of inspiration, as I instantly knew which domain and idea to use for the Brice Cheddarn Development single-serving site experiment.

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Get ready for Phoenix Design Week

Three months from now, the Phoenix design community plans to take over the city. Phoenix Design Week is a community movement dreamed up by a motivated designer named Mark Dudlik in an attempt to unite and strengthen the design community. His open letter gained immediate momentum and support, and further solidified the need to ignite a fire from within.

Phoenix is a city full of talented and passionate developers, artists and designers, and Phoenix Design Week will be the first large-scale effort to bring them together around their shared love for visual design. The event is will gather graphic and interactive design individuals, design firms and industry organizations to participate in a week’s worth of events to showcase what Phoenix Design has to offer the world.

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IE6 finally hears the Death Rattle

Internet Explorer 6 is like a bad date that just won't take the hint. The long standing browser has been causing headaches for web developers and designers since 2001, and until recently people have done nothing but accept the abuse. Recent news, however, suggests we may have finally had our fill of abuse from IE6.

Internet Explorer is the main web browser that many of us nerds learned to surf the web on. Back in the early part of the decade, IE6 did its job and did it well. This was in large part because no other options existed. Before Microsoft was legally forced not to, they had the ability to bundle the browser with the Windows operating systems, which led to Microsoft experiencing a 95% market share for internet browsers. And when that many people adopt a product, it then becomes impossible to move away from.

Today, we have far superior browsers in the market like Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari, as well as Internet Explorer 8 (I hate to say it, but IE8 is pretty slick). These browsers are not only standards compliant, which IE6 is not, but they have evolved into all-encompassing utilities that reach far beyond the internet and into your everyday lives. I can't imagine life without FF and all of its plugins, let alone surfing the web without it.

I liken the IE situation to one of your grandparents living until 204 years of age, and then thinking they could adequately compete in the NFL for a starting RB position. In 2001, IE6 was just what we needed, but for the web to continue evolving and growing, the browser that requires the most time, energy and effort to make things work must be permanently retired. Not just retired, but banished from even coming close to a computer connected to the internet.

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New Mango Blog Theme: Company Blue

Yes, we coded another Mango Blog theme.  This is the 2nd of what will soon be many themes to be made from the almost forgotten folder of designs we stumbled upon.  This design is called Company Blue and is available for anyone to download and use/change freely under the Creative Commons.

The Company Blue theme has a little bit more style to it than the last theme.  This validated XHTML theme is very professional looking site and is great for any small business.  It is fairly search engine optimized and easy to work on.  It has space for a big promo image on the front page.  It also has a site search tied into every page, making it easier for people to find things on your Mango site.

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Update to Business Mango Theme

Over the weekend, we made some updates to the recently released Business Mango theme. After looking at some of the themes put together by Visual28, we realized we could be doing things better. We were using <cfinclude> files when we should have been using the custom <template> tags. So, with this we needed to add in a little code to the sidebar, footer and header files.

While making these changes, we also started to use <cfsilent> around the import tags in theme files. <cfsilent> suppresses output produced by CFML within a tag's scope, the most common output being unneeded white space. This just helps to keep things clean.

Download Business Mango

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