Scott Hanselman

My sixteenth Podcast is up. This episode is one full of random goodness we're calling Hanselminutiae #1.

We're listed in the iTunes Podcast Directory, so I encourage you to subscribe with a single click (two in Firefox) with the button below. For those of you on slower connections there are lo-fi and torrent-based versions as well.

Our sponsors are PeterBlum and the .NET Dev Journal.

As I've said before this show comes to you with the audio expertise and stewardship of Carl Franklin. The name comes from Travis Illig, but the goal of the show is simple. Avoid wasting the listener's time. (and make the commute less boring)

• Each show will include a number of links, and all those links will be posted along with the show on the site. There were a number of sites mentioned in this episode, some planned, some not.
• The basic MP3 feed is here, and the iPod friendly one is here. There's a number of other ways you can get it (streaming, straight download, etc) that are all up on the site just below the fold. I use iTunes, myself, to listen to most podcasts, but I also use FeedDemon and it's built in support.
  • Some other clients are Doppler (also suppose Windows CE), FireAnt, Nimiq, and PrimeTime Podcast.
• Note that for now, because of bandwidth constraints, the feeds always have just the current show. If you want to get an old show (and because many Podcasting Clients aren't smart enough to not download the file more than once) you can always find them at http://www.hanselminutes.com.
• I have, and will, also include the enclosures to this feed you're reading, so if you're already subscribed to ComputerZen and you're not interested in cluttering your life with another feed, you have the choice to get the 'cast as well.
• If there's a topic you'd like to hear, perhaps one that is better spoken than presented on a blog, or a great tool you can't live without, contact me and I'll get it in the queue!

Enjoy. Who knows what'll happen in the next show?

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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UPDATE: Make sure you have ClearType turned on, this font requires it. Use the Windows ClearType Control Panel Applet/PowerToy to tune.

Looks like Consolas is available to download for mere mortals now, no need to sneak it out of Vista.

Go get it. It's wonderful.

Interestingly, the download page says "This package is only intended for licensed users of Microsoft Visual Studio 2006."

<joke>So I guess that means that no one can use it. Bummer. ;)</joke> It installed fine on my systems.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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Betsy Aoki makes GotDotNet run.

She came to Portland a few years back (there's a picture of Rory and I on her blog) and when I bumped into her later on campus and she'd changed her hair and I didn't immediately recognize her and felt really bad about it. However, I now know she changes hair styles regularly - note that her hair matches her jacket. You don't just stumble on that kind of coordination. I know this because I'm a fashionisto. :)

She's the PM not only for GotDotNet.com but also blogs.msdn.com so she really drives community. She's also got some interesting thoughts around women in the technology industry. There's a whole series of Channel 9 Videos on Women in Technology.

She just got video-interviewed on Channel 9 and to my surprise mentioned me in the first few seconds of the talk. There's already a review of the said video at Channel9Hawk. 

We talked at TechEd 2004 and I wrote "We suck less" on a T-Shirt to remind folks that GotDotNet really pulled out of some rough times (availability, stability) to turn into a very useful destination on the net.

I really have to say that I enjoy just about everything I see on Channel 9 and have to give big ups to the folks over there that just walk into an office and start interviewing. Transparency in marketing, community and PR is where it's at, no question.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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UPDATE: The time is Friday at 10AM PST. Blog Readers note, this is a 100 level cast, not a 300 level cast, so set your expectations accordingly.

I'm giving a webcast based on the Coding4Fun Some Assembly Required articles this Friday 10AM PST. You can register for this Live Webcast now.

I'll be talking about how to use the System.IO.Ports namespace in the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 as an interface with most devices such as global positioning system (GPS) receivers and LCD screens. Stop by as we discuss the challenges of writing applications that interface with USB devices, the power of Windows Image Acquisition (WIA), and the joys of HTTP.

Should be a nice way to spend lunch. Of course the demos will likely be less impressive since you won't be able to see the hardware, but maybe I'll try to make up for it with photos.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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A common thing one wants to do in a table of financial figures is to turn negative numbers red. Given that folks would rather use CSS than <font>, there's some conflicting thinking around the right way to do it.

Some propose adding "negative" a css class like:

<TD CLASS="financial negative">-190</TD>

but others find that distasteful and say:

• number is a data type.
• currency is both a presentational instruction and a sub-type of the number data type.
• negative is neither type nor presentational — it’s dependent on the data value, not the type or the author’s formatting preference. It doesn’t belong there. [Xaprb]

and go on to provide a clever CSS-only technique that works everywhere but IE6 (demo here).

In the specific situation I've got, I'd like to make the change without changing any server-side code (which precludes adding a "negative" css class) and I need it to work everywhere (which nixes clever css).

So, here's my not-so-clever Javascript solution (Warning, I'm not a Javascript guy so give Phil a few minutes and he'll no doubt include color commentary).

<html>
<head>
    <style type="text/css">
     td.negative { color : red; }
    </style>
    <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
    <!--
    function MakeNegative() {
        TDs = document.getElementsByTagName('td');
        for (var i=0; i<TDs.length; i++) {
                var temp = TDs[i];
                if (temp.firstChild.nodeValue.indexOf('-') == 0) temp.className = "negative";
            }
    }
    //-->
    </script>
</head>
<body>
 <table id="mytable">
  <caption>Some Financial Stuff</caption>
  <thead>
    <tr><th scope="col">Date</th><th scope="col">Money is good</th></tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
  <tr><td>2006-05-01</td><td>19.95</td></tr>
  <tr><td>2006-05-02</td><td>-54.54</td></tr>
  <tr><td>2006-05-03</td><td>34.45</td></tr>
  <tr><td>2006-05-04</td><td>88.00</td></tr>
  <tr><td>2006-05-05</td><td>22.43</td></tr>
  </tbody>
 </table>
    <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
  <!--
   MakeNegative();
  //-->
    </script>
</body>

May not be Web 2.0, and it likely doesn't please the standards wonks, but it works.

UPDATE: Similar attempt seen here.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

About   Newsletter

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