I’ve done further editing of the site’s main CSS, and created my own header. The header is quite gothic, not my intent. I’ll let it sit for a day and review. I’m happy to rid myself of the near-default xblog header, and reduce the header height by half. Further changes to be made I’m sure. I’m thinking the green text may go. Hover text in the top menu will change. Possibly rounded corners on the main body. Kudos to CSSEdit for making the style sheet editing (possibly too) easy. Photos are my own, shot on a Canon 10D using an IR filter. Bulbs are heat lamps. Eyes are mine.

The iPhone CSS is unchanged; I like it as-is, odd bottom menu excluded. I don’t anticipate that menu being a high priority for iPhone visitors, considering there is little in the archive at this point.

Technorati Tags: Macintosh

I have no idea if anyone’s done this yet. But I’m a curious guy. I’ve optimized my WordPress blog for the iPhone. Making it compatible wasn’t an issue; the built-in Safari browser is pretty good. But I wanted iPhone users to find the blog immediately readable without the need to zoom in.

I didn’t want a new CSS for other web visitors, just something unique for iPhone users. I’m posting my methodology so others can hack it to bits take advantage of my solution.

First, I created an iPhone-specific CSS variant of my standard theme. First I got rid of the (admittedly ugly) graphic header. Then I made everything a max of 320px wide, the narrow width of the iPhone’s screen. Then I shoved the navigation menu to the bottom, just to get it out of the way (this could certainly be done better). Ok, that gave me an iPhone-optimized CSS. I named it style-iphone.css, and dropped it into my theme folder. You can view the CSS (far from beautiful, based on the xblog theme).

Ok, that part was easy. Now I wanted to get the iPhone to use it. So in the theme’s header.php I added:

<?php
$iphone_stylesheet = str_replace(”.css”, “_iphone.css”, get_bloginfo(’stylesheet_url’));
?>
<link media=”only screen and (max-device-width: 480px)” href=”<?php echo $iphone_stylesheet; ?>” type=”text/css” rel=”stylesheet” />

So that basically changes style.css to style_iphone.css, and uses the new Apple-defined media type. In other words, this tells the iPhone to use this stylesheet, and everything else to ignore it. I put this after the normal stylesheet line, not sure if that was required or not.

Worked great, but I wanted the iPhone to zoom right into my blog instead of forcing the user to double-tap. That’s where the Viewport meta tag comes in. I wasn’t sure what Viewport might do to non-iPhone browsers, so I wrapped that in a PHP test:

<?php
if (strstr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], “iPhone”))
{
echo ‘<meta name=”viewport” content=”width = 320″ />’;
}
?>

So my header.php now looked like this:

<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”<?php bloginfo(’stylesheet_url’); ?>” type=”text/css” media=”screen” />

<?php
$iphone_stylesheet = str_replace(”.css”, “_iphone.css”, get_bloginfo(’stylesheet_url’));
?>

<link media=”only screen and (max-device-width: 480px)” href=”<?php echo $iphone_stylesheet; ?>” type=”text/css” rel=”stylesheet” />
<?php
if (strstr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], “iPhone”))
{
echo ‘<meta name=”viewport” content=”width = 320″ />’;
}
?>

(That first stylesheet line is unchanged, as a frame of reference.)

And voila. iPhone users now see a very readable, optimized blog. Users from anything else don’t see any difference.

I’m using a somewhat old WordPress (2.0.6); I’m not sure if the header in 2.2 is any different, but the solution shouldn’t be different.

I’m very curious what others think of this implementation.

Technorati Tags: iPhone

Ok, my first unhappy surprise.

There is no option to not “Display Remote Images in HTML Messages” as there is in mail.app. When you bring up an HTML email, remote images are automatically retrieved.

I’ve always viewed that as a security problem, since those images nearly always contain unique ID’s tying your email address to the message. I might go file a radar bug report on this right now…

Filed: Problem ID: 5305779

The iPhone is very easy to use. The WiFi works great. The EDGE is what I expected, nothing to complain about. I don’t live in a 3G area anyway. Keyboard is really nice - getting used to it fast. I’m already typing at least as well as I did on my Treo 650, and I suspect it’ll get better.

Some thoughts on minor feature improvements - I’ll use this blog as a scratchpad. I’m going to limit my thoughts to items that can easily be updated via software.

Safari - need an option “Automatically download images” like Safari for the Mac has. Make this service-specific, so I can turn this on for WiFi, off for EDGE. This would make EDGE much faster for web browsing. When images have not been downloaded, have a button when in Safari to do so. Again, just like Safari Mac.

Mail - I’d like a way to flag messages (just like mail.app and other mail clients). There is a “mark as unread” button which is nice, but a flag would be an added bonus. This is for email that comes in while on the road, but you don’t want to deal with until later.

Mail - Automatic email check needs an “every five minute” option. Yes this will drain the battery faster, but for me that’s worth it. Every 15 minutes isn’t quite enough.

Mail - Automatic email checking within specified time block. My Treo 650 had this. I set it to only auto-check email from 7am to 9pm. This was nice, as it wouldn’t beep late at night, or waste the battery if I’d forgotten to plug it in.

Mail - is IMAP/SMTP connecting over SSL or not? In mail.app you can see that in preferences. There’s no explicit option for this. I really, really only want to use SSL - especially in public WiFi areas. So this is a question, and if SSL isn’t there, please add it quickly. Update: SSL is there, just in Advanced and not during the setup prompts. Also, if you want to use a specific port, use address:port syntax. No separate port field, which is fine.

Phone - need a way to quickly search by name using the QWERTY keypad. This is an odd omission. I have 956 address book entries, so scrolling to find the name is too slow.

Well that’s what I’ve got so far. I’m going to look for a theme I like, that also works well with the iPhone. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone’s already written a decent WordPress theme…

I’m writing from San Francisco, where I (as of tomorrow morning) will be attending Apple’s annual WWDC - the World Wide Developers Conference.

They encourage everyone to pick up their badges (and free goodies) the day prior to the show. So earlier this evening I walked from my hotel to the Moscone Convention Center and handed over my driver’s license. I was promptly provided a badge for “Mitch Cohen, Sony Pictures.” Keep in mind I don’t work for Sony Pictures. My badge should have read “Mitch Cohen, Proactive Interactive.”

I am not the Mitch Cohen who works for Sony Pictures. [For other Mitch Cohens who are not me, read this earlier entry.]

The poor clerk was confused when I explained I was indeed Mitch Cohen, but just not that Mitch Cohen. After a bit of explaining, she said “Ummmmm… See those people down there in red shirts that look important? They actually work for Apple. They can help you.”

The kind red-shirted folks were able to help, and confirmed my worst suspicions. There was indeed another Mitch Cohen attending WWDC, and he works for Sony Pictures. He checked in sometime prior to me. He apparently handed over his driver’s license, and was promptly handed my badge. He either didn’t notice, or thought it would be keen to masquerade as myself for the week. The trouble was, the Mitch Cohen of Proactive Interactive (that’s me) was already checked in. They couldn’t simply check me in again.

After some significant discussion amongst the kind red-shirted folks behind the table and a quick phone call for clarification from Steve Jobs (only kidding on that part) the Red Shirt In Charge decided the best course of action was to now check in the Sony Mitch (not me), and using a secret code word authorized the reprinting of the Proactive Mitch’s card (that’s me). Problem solved.

On a sad note, the kind red-shirted Apple folks will be killed off at the end of WWDC.

After some minor Googling I was unable to locate a web page for Sony Mitch. So if you know Sony Mitch, or are Sony Mitch, please drop me a note. Despite your apparent desire to be me for a week I’m sure you’re a fine fellow. Perhaps we’ll see one another at WWDC.

Just one more problem. With the exception of Steve Jobs’ Keynote Address, the entire conference is covered by Apple’s famous confidentiality agreement. So even in writing this story I may be threatening myself with legal action, bodily harm, or even the loss of Leopard Beta privileges (yikes!). But it’s worth it.

I just listened to the podcast of the 3/16/2007 NPR’s On The Media. They had an interview with Bill Gates on “the future of television.” Blah blah blah.

At the end of the interview, the host (Bob Garfield):

Bob Garfield: “I want to ask you one more thing. Those Mac ads…how do you feel about the John Hodgman character?”

Bill Gates: “Ah ah ah I can’t comment on someone else’s ad.”

Bob Garfield: “Ok, but… He’s you.”

Bill Gates: “Uhh I’m not gonna comment on someone else’s ad.”

(end of interview)

This takes place approx. 38:55 into the program, if you want to the whole thing. Maybe not newsbreaking but rather funny.

http://www.onthemedia.org/

Click to hear the audio snippet (MP3 format)

I’m a big fan of Hal Hartley’s films, especially Trust. If you don’t know it please seek it out. While it isn’t on DVD yet the cable/satellite channel IFC often shows it. It’s a wonderful small film about an unlikely couple. The lead actress was Adrienne Shelly, not a huge star but well known to independent film fans. She often popped up in guest roles in some of my favorite TV shows - Homicide, Law & Order, and Oz. She’d also moved on to writing and directing.

I won’t rehash all that is easily found elsewhere. Last week she was found dead, in an apparent suicide. A bedsheet around her neck tied to shower curtain rod. Something didn’t seem right, and it wasn’t. A few days later her death became stranger than fiction. Arrested was a construction worker, who has since confessed to her murder and faked suicide. Adrienne had complained about his construction noise, so he killed her. Go figure.

I was upset to hear of her death, so I began searching online to learn more. The interesting stuff turned out to be in blogs, not news sites. Not so much information but perception and connection to Adrienne or her story. Most blog entries were of fans, but I found entries of those who knew her, making the whole experience more personal.

Two people wrote small stories of knowing her as a college student. One author spent some time with Adrienne in her dorm room before going to a party. Two more knew her professionally, although to a minor degree. Another met her at an ATM. I liked this story the best, just a random meeting of an actress by a fan, striking up a great conversation.

I enjoyed these stories so much more than a formal obituary. Through these minor anecdotes she become more real. Not just an actress. Without the internet and blogs we’d just have a formal obituary, perhaps commentary by a professional writer or two. Instead the world has an infinitely more interesting “virtual obituary” written by regular folks.

I ran across two unexpected sites, also unique to our digital era.

One blogger discovered her husband, Andy Ostroy, has a blog of his own. As of this writing the site has no postings since his wife’s death. But site visitors have added many comments to his most recent posting offering condolences. I find that uncomfortably strange, complete strangers adding random notes to a widower’s post on Iraq policy. Maybe this isn’t a good use of the internet.

Once it was announced the killer was an illegal immigrant I quickly found a blog posting of the murder on an anti-immigration blog. Would he have killed her any less if he’d been a citizen, or would the story be any less tragic? Although I’ll have to admit, the worker’s status may have played a role in the coverup; the creep faked the suicide because he didn’t want to be deported. To make matters worse (?) it turns out she was still alive after he punched her. He thought he’d killed her then. Her death was caused by the faked suicide. Not only in politics is the coverup worse than the crime.

So the point? There’s more to the story than what you’ll find on the front page. If you’re curious to learn more about a story, search the blogs. Technorati and Google Blog Search are good places to start. I promise you’ll find the unexpected.

My only other comment is how this story begs to become a Law & Order episode. I wonder if they’ll do it, and if so, I hope the pay some tribute to Adrienne as a former guest star.