Modern computers are chock full of features and widgets and icons and gizmos, but when you’re trying to focus, it is all just noise. There is something to be said for an old green or amber monitor, showing nothing but your immediate task.
Dark Room for Windows
Over a year ago I was impressed with Dark Room, a simple, full-screen text editor for Windows. It is a full-screen text editor with no distractions. However, though it serves its purpose and is nice in some respects, using it is a chore. The biggest problem is that it feels slow. Wait, the biggest problem has to be that it lacks find-and-replace functionality. Seriously, though Dark Room works, it feels like it’s an unfinished project.
Dark Room Editing
Dark Room Preferences
Distraction-Free Text Editors
So Dark Room is a decent choice for Windows users looking for a simple, full-screen text editor, but it has some problems.
So, are there any other options? Yes, there are.
jDarkRoom
jDarkRoom is a Java-based alternative. Since it’s Java-based, it will run on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Its feature set is limited. Also, at least on my Windows XP system, there was a serious problem with distracting graphical artifacts, which kind of defeats the purpose of distraction-free writing.
jDarkRoom Editing
jDarkRoom Preferences
jDarkRoom Help
WestEdit
WestEdit is a Windows application. It works, but to me it feels too lacking in features to use or recommend.
WestEdit Editing
WestEdit Preferences
WestEdit Help
Q10
Q10, a Windows application, has built-in spell checking, font selection, find-replace, a note feature, configurable document statistics, a writing alarm, adjustable typing sounds, auto-correct and “quick text” word expansion, and several other nice features. Very nice.
Q10 Editing
Q10 Preferences
Q10 Help
Writeroom
Writeroom, from Hog Bay Software, is the original distraction-free editor for the Mac. It costs about $25, though you can dig around and find an older version for free. (Oh, well, I did the digging for you. See the Writeroom Releases page for old versions.)
Since I don’t have a Mac handy, here is a wee screen shot from the Writeroom website. As you can see, it features a hip, shiny look. So it is a superb choice for shiny Apple customers.
Writer
Writer is web-based, and for what it is, not too bad. However, there are a few problems with this concept. First, web-based storage: I know it’s hip but letting someone else store my documents seems foolish. Second, it is not full-screen, so you’re left with the browser and anything around it to distract you. (However, you can get around a lot of this with a full-full-screen mode on your browser. A Firefox Addon called Fuller Screen works well, removing all browser chrome and making the website truly full-screen.) Writer does, on the other hand, have some handy features; send to email or a content management system (here again, you give them your userid and password—yikes!), download as text or PDF, and print. Interesting, but not compelling for any but the most trivial writing.
Writer Editing
DarkCopy
DarkCopy is another web-based text editor with a full-screen mode and the ability to save as a text file. There’s not much more to this editor, so it might suffice for the odd job, but unless you can’t use anything else, I don’t see a compelling reason to use this one. The full-screen mode doesn’t work so well for me, but nothing about DarkCopy makes me want to figure out what the problem is. Not bad, but no big deal.
DarkCopy Editing
Which distraction-free text editor is the best choice?
For Windows users, Q10 is the way to go. It’s fast and feels solid. The other choices work but are outshined by Q10.
For Mac users with cash left over after buying their overpriced systems, Writeroom is the standard-bearer; for those left indigent by Apple, the free JDarkRoom should work okay.
Linux users can use JDarkRoom or one of the web-based alternatives like Writer or DarkCopy.
At that time, Spectec told me the product would be delayed until August 2007. Since then I have heard nothing about it, other than questions from readers asking about it.
Last week a Spectec sales rep told me that it is not ready due to the chipset maker needing to modify software. It will take 3-4 months. Sorry to keep you waiting. So that puts it out to July or August.
No SDW-823 Wi-Fi For Now
So, for now, there is no Wi-Fi for devices like the Samsung Blackjack. In fact, by the time the Spectec card is available—if it is ever available—I may have decided 3G or Edge is good enough or simply moved on to another phone.
Promising to fill a gap left by sites like eBible and BibleGateway, a new Bible reading and study site is online, called the YouVersion. It is being created by lifechurch.tv.
Like eBible, the YouVersion offers up a modern feel with highlighting and tagging. Unlike eBible, the YouVersion opens things up a bit by allowing users to attach multi-media content to passages.
The YouVersion blog does a decent job of highlighting new features as they appear.
The Good Stuff
More Bible is a good thing, however you slice it.
Attaching links, images, and video—in addition to text notes— to passages is a nice step forward.
The layout is nice enough and uncluttered.
Though not available yet, a Groups feature will allow groups (what else?) to study Scripture together.
Also not available yet, a Favorites feature will allow you to mark Passages to appear in a list of your favorites.
It nice that they opened the website when the Reader was ready and did not wait for everything to be available, but… (see below).
Uploading images and videos is restricted to online sharing sites. Good because it probably will filter out a lot of unwelcome nastiness.
The Not-So-Good Stuff
The Bible Reader always starts with Genesis 1. Likewise, no matter what you’re reading, refreshing the reading page always starts you back at Genesis 1. The last passage you were viewing should be remembered.
Once you’ve added content, the Reader still shows a “Discover the relevancy… Currently, there is no passage selected” message. Once you select a passage, Community content for that verse is displayed. I would expect that my content is displayed first. Clicking on My Content shows a list of content, with no indication of which is relevant to the current verse. Very unhelpful.
The Dashboard shows a bunch of stuff but nothing relevant to your own reading and content. The dashboard should first and foremost show what’s relevant to the user, starting with the user’s own work. The Community is secondary, and once groups are available, tertiary.
There are still some layout bugs. For example, if your browser window isn’t huge, content links wrap back on themselves, creating a strange jumble. There seems to be a blank column at the end of each entry.
The missing features leave big holes in the YouVersion concept.
Uploading images and videos is restricted to online sharing sites. Bad because it forces you to use yet another website.
There needs to be at least an option to render Jesus’ words in red.
A sans-serif font is not so great for extended reading. An option to switch to a serif font like Georgia would ease reading. See below for a comparison of this.
Apparently, there is no public API into YouVersion for developers to build on YouVersion. ESV and eBible both have APIs.
Georgia On My Mind
Reading for a while in the YouVersion reading pane is visually tiresome for me, so I opened Firebug and changed the Scripture font from Arial to Georgia. Much better!
Though font preferences differ among readers, but there is some evidence that serif fonts provide superior readability than do their sans-serif cousins for longer passages of text. I mostly agree and feel that YouVersion (and eBible, for that matter) should include an option to change the text font to a modern serif font like Georgia. (Of course, titles and headings can and should remain in sans-serif.)
Below are two clipped screenshots of John 15 in YouVersion. The first is set in Arial, followed by the same text rendered in Georgia.
Sans-serif (Arial) - click for full image
Serif (Georgia) - click for full image
Your mileage may vary of course. Just asking that we have a choice.
Features and Screenshots
YouVersion Dashboard and Profile
The Dashboard displays some welcome messages, a daily reading, recent Community contributions, new users, an entry from their blog, a search box, and some links to various areas of the site (most are “coming soon”). Does not show anything directly relevant to the user. The profile feels perfunctory, but also shows who you’re “following,” who’s “following” you, your contributions, and what you’ve tagged and starred.
YouVersion Bible Reader and Community Content
Though always returning you to Genesis 1, the Bible Reader has a nice enough layout. Clicking on a verse displays community content rather than your own content.
YouVersion My Content and Adding An Image
Clicking “My Content” shows a list of content you’ve added with no indication of which is relevant to this verse. Adding content is pretty simple. Fill in the form and point it to a Flickr, Picasa, or Photobucket image. Pretty much the same for
YouVersion, Shared Content, and Community Bible Study
Making the Bible available to more people and providing them with more tools with which to study it is a great thing. Once it’s completed, I can see some Bible study groups making great use of YouVersion and its community and group features.
The obvious purpose of YouVersion is to apply the latest web technologies to an online Bible study application. Much of the “latest web technologies,” though, is nothing more than hype and fashion. Ajax and Javascript are nice incremental points on the long timeline of technology, but let’s get some perspective. The first post in their blog seems to equate Web 2.0 fashion sense with the invention of the printing press and, presumably, lifechurch.tv with Gutenberg.
Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450. Four years later, he printed the first copy of the Bible using this new moveable type system. This accomplishment began what is known as “The Age of the Printed Book.” Over the following centuries, this technological advancement revolutionized the surrounding culture by making it possible for the Bible to be accessible to nearly everyone.
Currently, we are in the beginning of another revolution that is defined by the ability for almost anyone to publish content and quickly distribute it worldwide using the Internet. This revolution is at the center of what is called “Web 2.0.”
A revolution on par with the printing press? That’s a bit much.
Unfortunately, though lifechurch.tv may be well-intended, I get a sense that something deeper is missing in YouVersion. Maybe that will change as the project nears completion.
Shared Content and Community
The ability to link Scripture to other content and share notes is interesting and will benefit to some Bible study groups and individuals. Tagging and starring passages provide helpful organizational tools that some will find useful. These features can make YouVersion a great asset to study and reading, particularly if the interface is improved to highlight the user’s own work first and by default.
In Summary
LifeChurch has done a decent job with YouVersion, and aside from nagging problems, it is a promising work-in-progress that may be a valuable tool in the future.
However, something is missing. Whether they work the kinks out or not, YouVersion seems to have started with Web 2.0 talking points and worked backwards to work them around the Bible. Tagging? Got it. Starring? Check. Community? Yep. Shared content? Oh, yeah. Flickr, Picasa, Youtube, MySpace? Got it. This Ajax thing? You betcha. DHTML and highlighting? Yes sir. The focus seems to be all that rather than on the Bible itself.
Throwing caution to the wind, I blindly upgraded this site to 2.5. So far, no problems have cropped up. In fact, at the moment everything seems fine (of course, let me know if you discover otherwise).
A Simple WordPress Upgrade?
After the tedious upgrade to WordPress 2.3, I fully expected something to crash and burn, particularly since 2.5 is such a significant change. Thankfully, it was boring and quick. Clicked “Upgrade WordPress,” then “Continue,” and it was done.
So What’s New in WP 2.5?
The changes are covered exhaustively by the WordPress team and countless others, but these are the things that I noticed after playing around with it for a few minutes.
The redesigned admin interface is different and much improved.
The Media Gallery is a snazzy way to add images, music, videos, etc. That is, if you like doing it that way. I tend to shy away from these automated code-creator gizmos in favor of hand-coding things.
The Dashboard looks great with its new design. The important stuff is arranged in a more intelligent, top down fashion.
Smoother WYSIWYG editing is included, as far as I can tell. Normally I don’t use this much but it’s nice to see it improving.
Full-screen editing is just a feature of the editor, but deserves an item of its own. It’s a nice touch, though I wish it was available in the plain HTML editor. Dark Room style editing, sans brick-a-brack, is great.
Permalink display is handy. At the top of the post the permalink that will be created is displayed, and an inline editing feature is included. One bug, however, is that once you edit the permalink, you are stuck with a manually-edited permalink. I.e. if you subsequently think of a better post title, you will have to manually edit the permalink to reflect the new title.
Tag entry is still a pain. There should be a list of existing tags from which to choose (by clicking on them, preferably).
Category entry has taken a step backwards, in my opinion. To enter a new category, you have to click “+Add New Category,” enter the category name, then click another Add button (or hit Enter). Kind of picky but it’s one more fussy thing getting in the way.
A Gallery of sorts is supported. Upload images, include a [ gallery ] tag, and your images will be linked… or something like that. I am feeling underwhelmed, but maybe that’s just me.
WordPress 2.5 Screenshots
If you’re curious, here are some screenshots of the new WP 2.5 Admin interface.
Overall Impressions of WordPress 2.5
Well, compared to version 2.3, this looks quite a bit better. Best thing since sliced bread? No, not so much. But, amusing diversion for a couple hours? Sure.
Setting the initial letter of a page—or chapter, or section—in larger type and dropping it down a bit into the text is similar to decorated initials common in illuminated manuscripts, such as the breathtaking Saint John’s Bible, and of course, in the world of print. Initial drop caps are fairly simple to accomplish on the web with CSS and the :first-letter pseudo-selector. But, as you might guess, the differences amongst various browsers can make this a frustrating exercise.
Often combined with initial drop caps, another common typesetting flourish is to set the remainder of the first word, first several words, or the entire first line in small caps. Here you use the CSS :first-line pseudo-selector, though it too suffers from a few browser peculiarities.
Pseudo-selector Basics
Pseudo-selectors, or pseudo-elements, give a designer the flexibility to style portions of the document that are not distinct elements within the DOM. The W3 definition is as follows.
Pseudo-elements create abstractions about the document tree beyond those specified by the document language. For instance, document languages do not offer mechanisms to access the first letter or first line of an element’s content. CSS pseudo-elements allow style sheet designers to refer to this otherwise inaccessible information.
:first-letter controls everything up to the first letter or number of an element, including punctuation, while :first-line, controls everything in the first line of an element. We will be building CSS rules with these selectors to create initial drop caps in a first line of small caps.
The Challenge
The eventual goal for the examples below is to style only the first paragraph of a content page from a CMS (such as WordPress), and assumes that the paragraph follows an h2 element.
The Solution(s)
There are a few approaches to using first-letter and first-line pseudo-selectors. One is to assign an explicit class to the element you wish to style. Another is to use preceding selector notation to target the CSS rule. A third method uses Javascript (jQuery in this article) to make things happen. All three approaches are covered in this article.
Explicit Class Solution
The first option is to assign an explicit class to the target element, and apply the pseudo-selector to that class, as shown in the next several examples. Setting the element class will look something like the following example, where the paragraph is given the class someclass.
<pclass="someclass">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetuer adipiscing elit. Donec ullamcorper mauris sit amet
ante. Donec convallis nisl malesuada eros. Nullam volutpat
quam non elit.</p>
(For the examples in this article, all sample output elements also use a class of _examples—shown below—that sets the font size to 16 pixels and the line height to twice that. So the code above would use class="someclass _examples" to combine the two.)
._examples{
font-size:16px;
line-height:32px;
}
Initial Capital
The following CSS rule sets the font size for the first letter of the example1 class to 32px (two em).
.example1:first-letter{
font-size:32px;
}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Donec ullamcorper mauris sit amet ante. Donec convallis nisl malesuada eros. Nullam volutpat quam non elit.
Small Caps
To set the first line in small caps, we will use the font-variant property, as shown below.
.example2:first-line{
font-variant:small-caps;
}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Donec ullamcorper mauris sit amet ante. Donec convallis nisl malesuada eros. Nullam volutpat quam non elit.
Put example1 and example2 together and we get the two combined styles, shown below.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Donec ullamcorper mauris sit amet ante. Donec convallis nisl malesuada eros. Nullam volutpat quam non elit.
Dropping The First Letter
That looks nice, but tweaking things will make things look even better. The key is to float the letter to the left and move it down, then adjust to taste.
For this example, there are several adjustments to the first letter rule to produce something like the text below.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Donec ullamcorper mauris sit amet ante. Donec convallis nisl malesuada eros. Nullam volutpat quam non elit.
The first letter adjustments include applying a left float, bumping the font size up to 64px, then tweaking the margins and line height.
Setting the first letter size to 64 pixels is a matter of taste, but essentially makes the first letter approximately the size of two lines. The margin adjustments accomplish a few things. The top margin moves the baseline of the letter up to the bottom of the second line; the right margin adds a bit of space after the large initial letter; the bottom margin chops the invisible space below the letter so the following line will flow under it; and the left margin cheats the big serifs a bit into the left margin to the meat of the letter aligns with the smaller text below it.
And this is where browser discrepancies bite us. In Internet Explorer, the top margin used above do not work to lower the “L” into the text as they do in Firefox. In IE we need to adjust the line height to make it work.
h2 + p Solution
In this approach, we set up h2 + p:first-letter and h2 + p:first-line rules (or h3, etc.). The advantage here is that additional tagging is unnecessary, and nicely separates content from display.
Unfortunately, IE 6 fails to handle the element-preceding notation (+) when combined with a pseudo-element such as :first-line or :first-letter. It does not hurt anything; your styling will simply not be applied in IE 6.
Another potential ill-effect is the need to avoid multiple h2 tags per page, unless we want multiple first-letter / first-line styling.
Also, this can work if we do not care about IE 6 (or can accept the graceful downgrade) and can control the content tagging such that a single element such as h2 is followed by the paragraph in need of special styling.
The jQuery Solution
Here we use jQuery to tear apart then rebuild the target paragraph to explicitly invoke the correct CSS rules.
This solution works in IE 6 (but not IE 5.5 and below).
Include jQuery and the following script:
<script>
$(document).ready(function(){
$("h2 + p:eq(0)").each(function(){var t = $(this).text();
var f = t.substring(0,1);
var l = t.length;
if($.browser.opera)
t = "<div class='operap'>" + t + "</div>";
else t = "<div class='firstp'>" + t + "</div>";
$(this).hide().replaceWith( t ).show();
});
});
</script>
The code uses jQuery’s selector logic to target h2 + p:eq(0), and simply replaces the paragraph with a div of class firstp. An advantage of this approach is that you do not have to explicitly tag the first paragraph by hand. Also h2 + p:eq(0) is specific enough to target the first paragraph after the first h2 element and it because jQuery is doing the heavy lifting, it works in IE 6. Which brings us to Opera.
More Browser Disagreements
All this works fine in Opera, except the top margin and a little rendering issue.
if($.browser.opera)
t = "<div class='operap'>" + t + "</div>";
else t = "<div class='firstp'>" + t + "</div>";
$(this).hide().replaceWith( t ).show();
The code above uses a special class with a top margin for :first-letter of 0 if it’s running in Opera, otherwise it uses the normal class that works for IE and Firefox. Then, it hides the target element, sets the HTML, then makes the element visible again. This is because Opera does not correctly re-render the element after the HTML has been changed. This forces the re-render to happen in Opera. (The curious syntax in this last line is an example of chaining jQuery calls.)
Over time, the Samsung Blackjack has become a bit of a burden for me. At first, I really liked it, but it has developed some troubles. It drops calls, gets poor reception, and decides to turn its phone radio off (almost randomly). Speakerphone and other problems compounded my frustration with it. Windows Mobile 5 has some issues as well, and a WM6 update was not available when I had last checked.
Then, out of the blue, AT&T called last week and offered to replace it, as it was in the Jan 2007 batch of phones with antenna problems. Sure enough, a replacement arrived a couple days later.
I updated ActiveSync and sync’d the phone to my PC. While getting the latest ActiveSync I discovered that Windows Mobile 6 was available as an update as well. So, in one weekend two of my biggest gripes about the Blackjack have been rectified. It remains to be seen whether the reception stays solid or not, but if it’s like the original refurbished Blackjack I got (which had to be replaced due to charging problems), the reception should be much better.
Updating Blackjack to WM6
To update the Blackjack to WM6, visit Samsung’s WM6 update site and follow the instructions.
Though I highly recommend you follow the instructions listed there verbatim, essentially the process is as follows.
Turn off anti-virus and firewall software - I needed to turn off ZoneAlarm before sync-ing the phone.
Download and update ActiveSync - You will need version 4.2 or greater.
Download and install the Samsung Modem Drivers - Not sure the reason for this, but probably it’s got to do with the flash process.
Download the Blackjack Software Update - This is the WM6 update for the Blackjack.
Run the WM6 Blackjack update - this should take several minutes. You’ll see a downloading screen on the phone (shown below).
Backup data from your phone - The WM6 update will erase all data on the phone.
Reset the Blackjack with *2767*3855# - This simply reboots the phone.
Verify the phone’s software version with *#1234# - should be something like I607UCHA1.
WM6 is now installed - enjoy.
So, thanks AT&T! (And Samsung.)
It’s nice to see a big company make something right without me having to spend hours on the phone talking to customer no-service. Yes, I know other customers have probably taken care of the complaining for me, but it was nice to have AT&T take care of the replacement so quickly and easily.
WM6 is nice too, so thanks, Samsung.
Update: Though WM6 and the replacement Blackjack are definitely a step up for me, I have noticed an occasional issue where the phone will lock up and require a power-off, power-on cycle. tmantist wrote in to say “I am having issues with WM6. I have trouble making calls now. This is so weird, before I installed WM6 I didn’t have any call connectivity problems.” So heads up. WM6 is not all sunshine and light for everyone.
After trying several converters that either watermarked the results, failed to convert, or simply built incompatible files, I stumbled across a reference to SUPER at VideoHelp.
Right away I was able to convert an FLV (Flash Video) file to MPEG4 H.264 format. It was huge, as the defaults are set to very high quality. Since the input was a low-quality FLV file, dialing the quality back quite a bit (see the two circled settings below) and keep the file size under control. With some additional tweaking I’m sure the video can be shrunk even more.
Anyhow, then I had an MP4 file ready to transfer to my new Zune.
At that point, I had to struggle a bit with the Zune software. Tip: do not manage your files inside the Zune software. Point it to your media directories and delete or rename them, etc. from Windows Explorer.
Also, it helps to send the SUPER output files somewhere Zune isn’t looking, then rename and change the meta-information (like Title and so forth) before moving the video to your media directories.
Earlier this year I upgraded to a refurbished Samsung Blackjack (from a Sony-Erricson W800i). After trading it in for another (refurbished) Blackjack that would take a charge, I was fairly happy with the phone. It had a full QWERTY keyboard, nice screen, and handled text messaging, web browsing, and email pretty well.
Over the last six months it has become a very frustrating phone. Calls are dropped, “no service” situations where there is clearly a cell signal, and apparently random shutdowns of the phone.
The speaker phone feature is great until there is any ambient noise, such as while driving. The Blackjack “helpfully” increases the volume automatically, and unfortunately beyond the meager ability of the built-in speaker. So what should be a hands-free situation becomes a chore of manually compensating for the fluctuating volume, ambient noise, and a weak speaker.
Granted, it is entirely possible that this refurbished Blackjack is suffering from a damaged speaker. But in this case, the changing volume makes a bad problem worse.
Blackjack annoying design
It does not help that there are physical design issues with the Blackjack — for me, at least.
First, the phone feels nothing like a phone; it is wide and flat. Maybe that works for some people, but to me it feels weird.
Second, the number keys are positioned on the QWERTY keyboard so that a column of keys is between each number column. On top of that, if you need to dial a number with letters in it or have to enter letters into an automated answering system, you are out of luck unless you remember which letters correspond to which numbers on a normal phone keypad. The first part of this appears to be fixed with the Blackjack II, but as far as I can tell you will still be guessing which number matches which letter.
Finally, the cable connection design is poor. The covers are flimsy and prone to falling out. The USB cable shares the charging connection, so if you are connected via USB you are limited to a USB trickle charge. Yes this is common with cell phones. Yes I know these companies love their proprietary connectors. It is still, however, very annoying. I have too many special cables and chargers and whatnot already.
Nitpicky problems abound.
Did I say finally? Actually, there are a lot of little problems with this phone. The camera is crappy and annoying to use. Common menu choices are nested too deep for normal use. Accidental button presses are too easy. SpecTec promises aside, there is still no wi-fi option available for the Blackjack. Yes, Blackjack users are still stuck with Windows Mobile 5 Standard. No WM6 upgrade, though it has been available for nearly half a year.
The Blackjack Is Still Pretty Nifty
All that said, I still want to like the Blackjack. For the fifty bucks I paid it is not terrible when it works. The Sony W600i felt more polished and more like a phone, but it had its problems too. None come to mind right now, but I am sure there must have been problems (besides the Vitamin Water I spilled on it).
Blackjack II?
The Blackjack II is available now and seems to correct some of the problems. Better antenna, number keys now in a more sensible layout (but no letter-dialing equivalents), Window Mobile 6, GPS, slightly better camera, improved battery life, stereo Bluetooth, a jog wheel, and other minor tweaks.
On the downside, the camera is only slightly improved and there is still no wi-fi. And it is a bit bigger and heavier.
I am torn. It seems to fix a lot of the problems, but part of me just wants a normal cell phone that acts and feels like a normal cell phone.
Steve Martin taught himself to play the banjo when he was in high school, and often incorporated it into his — now long-abandoned — stand-up comedy act. Though he walked away from stand-up in the early 1980s, he has continued playing the banjo. In 2002 he won the Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance along with Earl Skruggs and Company.
Will Wi-Fi Ever Be Available For Phones Like The Samsung Blackjack?
