In ultimele zile (sau poate putin mai mult) am petrecut ceva timp pe web-ul romanesc. Nu ma refer aici la bloguri, ci la site-urile mari. Nu pot spune ca am fost foarte placut impresionat, dar vom ajunge aici putin mai tirziu.

Inainte de a intra in mai multe detalii, ar trebui sa precizez ca aceasta asa zisa analiza am facut-o fiind interesat doar de urmatoarele aspecte: tehnologii de baza utilizare, experienta utilizatorului si impresii generale. Nu voi intra in detalii tehnice datorita lipsei de timp
si de asemenea nu voi comenta decit sporadic despre designul utilazat acesta nereprezentind un punct forte personal.

Prima categorie de siteuri la care m-am uitat sunt siteurile de sport. Poate parea ciudat sa pornesc cu aceasta categorie, dar in web-ul romanesc acestea reprezinta o parte importanta avind in vedere ca ele beneficiaza de un trafic relativ constant generat de un numar destul de ridicat de cititori (care conform datelor par in mare masure fideli). Siteurile vizitate sunt: www.sport.ro, www.gsp.ro si www.prosport.ro.

Detalii tehnice

www.sport.ro

• Tehnologie: PHP
• Server: Apache
• Dimensiune pagina principala: 859KB
• Timp de incarcare: 9-11s

www.gsp.ro

• Tehnologie: PHP
• Server: Apache
• Dimensiune pagina principala: 1.5M
• Timp de incarcare: 2-4s

Din pacate aceste date nu sunt disponibile si pentru ultimul site (www.prosport.ro) deoarece se pare ca acesta era in lucru la momentul analizei (nu am gasit o alta explicatie pentru timpi de incarcare de peste 2minute).

Pro si Contra

www.sport.ro

Plusuri:
• foarte mult continut in format richmedia
• cititorii pot posta comentarii pentru fiecare continut (uneori acesta este spam, sau continut trivial, dar asta e alta poveste)
• siteul pare “focusat” pe a genera interactiune cu cititorii (are polluri, comentarii, etc)

Minusuri
• URL-urile. Acest minus este partial compensat de un widget calendar care ajuta la navigarea arhivei
• prima jumatate a paginii pare mult prea plina si lipsesc detaliile temporare (nu este clar daca elementele respective reprezinta
  informatie de ultim moment sau elemente de reclama)
• pe paginile individuale, continutul se pierde printre alte elemente care nu sunt prea corelate
• mici probleme la prezentarea continutui (vezi imagini)

www.gsp.ro

Plusuri:
• agregheaza informatii de pe mai multe site-uri (plus si minus deorece nu este clar daca aceasta reprezinta informatie “oficiala” sua nu, si te poti trezi pe un cu totul alt site)
• site-ul utilizeaza un sistem de taguri care ajuta la navigarea istorica. Din pacate aceste nu sunt prea vizibile folosind aceeasi culoare rosie ca prea multe alte elemente. (vezi poza mai jos)

Minusuri:
• URL-urile
• lipseste interactiunea cu cititorii
• continutul este text only. Nu exista elemente richmedia (fotografii, video) decit in forma de link spre mysport.ro (dar in citeva cazuri acestea conduc la materiale inexistente)
• lipsesc cu desavirsire datele astfel incit nu este clar daca citesti o stire noua sau veche
• nu am reusit sa gasesc o arhiva, iar navigarea temporara este complet inexistenta
• prima pagina este foarta lunga

Fiecare din ele par a oferi un alt tip de experienta: implicarea cititorilor vs tip gazeta, richmedia vs continut pur si desi in ambele cazuri am listat mai multe puncte negative decit pozitive, ambele siteuri ofera o experienta interesanta si asa cum vom vedea in viitor printre cele mai placute si lipsite de surprize.
Este de remarcat ca in ambele cazuri tehnologia utilizata este PHP (si deci presupun prin generalizare LAMP). O parte careia este evident ca nu i s-a acordat importanta este partea de URL-uri care in amble cazuri au o parte citibila si o parte absolut nenecesara.

Posted by: Alex Popescu (aka the_mindstorm)

I must apologize to my English readers for the next series of posts that will be in Romanian. The main reason is that these are about the Romanian web space, and is more or less relevant to international readers.

Back on my Windows times, I have been using a couple of apps that were definitely increasing my productivity. I’ve been looking for their corresponding apps under Mac, and lately this list has started to grow quite a bit, so I’ve decided to post the links here.

Launchers

I think at this chapter, the most advanced Mac users will cry together: QuickSilver. Well, I must confess that it looks impressive, but it is a bit overcomplicated for my taste. Here, are my findings, starting with the one I am currently using (in the past I’ve been using just the integrated Spotlight):

• Namely. Some more details can be read here.
• Butler. Still a bit too complex for me. There are a couple more apps available from the same author.
• ABCLaunch. I haven’t tested this one, so don’t consider this a recommendation.
• Quicksilver. I think this one doesn’t need any special comments. The app has been extensively covered on Lifehacker
  • A beginner’s guide to Quicksilver
  • Advanced Quicksilver guide - slashes, appends, and proxies, oh my!
  • Top 10 Quicksilver Plug-ins
  • The Quicksilver video extravaganza
  • A look under the hood of Quicksilver

Probably a subcategory of launchers should be the shortcut based launchers. Here, I’ve been using only Spark, but basically with a complete different purpose (see text expanders).

Text expanders

These applications allow you to define different abbreviations and then they are taking care of replacing that with the full expanded version. The feature can be found natively in apps like Vim or your IDE. But, the following are providing a generic solution that works with all apps.

• textexpander. (commercial)
• TypeIt4Me (commercial)
• Spark. It works a bit differently than a normal text expander: you have to define shortcuts for the text snippets.

Tomorrow, I’ll probably provide a list of the corresponding Windows apps.

Posted by: Alex Popescu (aka the_mindstorm)

Yesterday, as a follow up on some post on Artima, I have mentioned some fundamental difference between Mixins and Traits.

What I’ve forgot to mention is that mixins are available in Groovy through Injecto (a module initially developed by Luke Daley.

A couple of weeks ago I have started to think about some advanced features that would fit into Injecto. Unfortunately, meanwhile I got sidetracked by my daily job and a couple of complex technical aspects (f.e. supporting overloaded methods, different lifecycle mixins, etc.) that I wanted to solve for the new features. I hope to be able to get to it in the upcoming weeks, so that early next year to come out with a revamped mixin support for Groovy.

Posted by: Alex Popescu (aka the_mindstorm)

I’ve read last night a post on traits for Java and I just thought to make a small comment.

According to the author:

The difference between a Trait and a Mixin is that order is important.

Well, in my opinion there is a much bigger, fundemental difference: mixins have state, traits don’t. When a class or object includes a mixin it includes all methods and attributes defined by the mixin, according to the Wikipedia:

A mixin can also be viewed as an interface with implemented methods. When a class includes a mixin, the class implements the interface and includes, not inherits, all the mixin’s attributes and methods.

This is quite an important difference, as traits are easier to be supported (except the inheritance change they are imposing), but the benefit is really limited. And the good news is that using AOP (e.g. AspectJ) you can have mixins (so implicitly you can have traits).

Posted by: Alex Popescu (aka the_mindstorm)