Darren Barefoot and Vancouver-based Nitobi posted a survey recently asking developers about their choices of development platforms.  While there wasn’t an overwhelming platform of choice, open-source tools ruled the day:

The interesting aspect is that there’s no one dominant language or platform. What does dominate the survey is open source, which comprises 80% of the platform responses, 84% of the Ajax framework responses, and 59% of the development tools responses. With the tools, Dreamweaver remains popular among designers, but a quarter of the responses were simple text editors. When asked what causes the most pain in web development, the first answer was overwhelmingly “browser compatibility”, followed by “testing”. Source: Nitobi Survey Shows Open Web Majority | Techvibes Blog

I find it very interesting that Dreamweaver still rules the roost for design.  I was always a Golive guy myself.  Now, I’m in the text editor crowd.  Okay I use Microsoft Expression Web to work on style sheets, but that’s only because I got it at Gnomedex.

Okay then, tools of choice…what do you find yourself working with for design and development the most?

ThoughtFarmer has been cranking out the news lately, this one caught my attention since I helped build, rebuild, and throw my hands up in frustration several Intranets in the past:

Recently, IDEO embarked on a new project to empower their internal communities to create and manage their own online collaborative spaces. With more than 500 employees in eight offices around the world, they sought better ways to share knowledge and collaborate across physical distances.

“We knew that wikis promised much of what we were after,” says Gentry Underwood, project lead for the initiative. “But most of the tools on the market are too difficult to use. We wanted something intuitive and straightforward, that our communities could pick up and start using without training.” Source: ThoughtFarmer Blog » ThoughtFarmer an integral component of IDEO’s intranet

Yep the easy and yet powerful Intranet.  Seems like a fools errand.  Okay seemed like a fools errand back in the late nineties when I was looking at such tools as Peachtree and Livelink.  Now, the tools are better, the computers and connections faster so this isn’t a fools errand.  Okay shouldn’t be.

IDEO must know good design and usability when they see it.  Is this the kudo for ThoughtFarmer?  Maybe.  One thing I do like to see is that Canadian technology is still on the leading edge of the industry.

ThoughtFarmer has been on my radar since Office 2.0 last summer.  I haven’t been a huge fan of wikis, but the ThoughtFarmer system isn’t really a wiki.  It is, well, a sophisticated, easy-to-use Intranet system.

This week ThoughtFarmer has released v 2.5 of their Intranet system, which focuses on using drag-n-drop for user control giving you the information you want when you want it.

You might think that the era of the Intranet is over, but actually it’s only beginning.  When SarbOx hit the scene user control and document management became a high priority item for public companies.  Now having tight control over users, content, and revisions is key to just keeping your doors open.

The problem with a lot of “Intranet systems” has been that they aren’t great at meshing into existing systems and not the more easy buggers to use.  Believe me, back in the day I had to deal with a lot of them.

This is one thing that impressed me about ThoughtFarmer (beyond wikis is just selling them short).  It makes sense.  You can “get it” at the first look.

Even with the screen shots on their blog post I can get what I’d need to do on each screen.  Nice job guys.

Now, maybe I can get a chance to try it out live…

For more info on the new release: ThoughtFarmer Blog » ThoughtFarmer 2.5: The ultimate intranet

If you’re around Vancouver (which would probably include Victoria) and have a new web app to demo (Facebook, web 2.0, etc), put April 15 on your calendar as your day to show it off.

Gerald has put out the call for lightning talks for the upcoming VanAjax geektogether:

Date
Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Time
2:15pm - 5:45pm

Location
Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre, 999 Canada Place

Vancouver (Open)Social(Web)Camp incl. Facebook Developer Garage - Call for Lightning Talks, Call for App Nite Demos « Vancouver Ajax & Web 2.0 (3.0) Developer Group // VanAjax.com

Sign up is on the SocialCampVancouver page.

While our American cousins will be filing their taxes, we’ll be geeking out!  Nice.

WordPress is the bloggers platform of choice and with its array of plugins it can do nearly anything.  The WordPress Multiuser plugin BuddyPress let you turn a standard WPMU install into a powerful roll-your-own social network, now this plugin has been pulled into Automattic.

What I didn’t realize (doh!) was that BuddyPress was developed by Andy Peatling of Blaze New Media–in Vancouver!

This has been getting a lot of press today, and for good reason too because it tips Matt’s hand as to Automattic/WordPress’ plans for making a powerful, new social networking tool:

• Vancouver’s BuddyPress goes Automattic | Techvibes Blog
• Wordpress: Going after Ning.com? - - mathewingram.com/work
• Photo Matt » Backing BuddyPress
• BuddyPress (just shows a coming soon with an Automattic logo now)
• Another Andy at Automattic
• Automattic Assimilates BuddyPress, Moves Towards Social Networking

Ning on the ropes?
As Mathew Ingram notes that it could be a powerful competitor to Ning, especially if you can just install it all on your servers.  Rob muses on Techvibes if it will be rolled into WP 2.5.  That I doubt, I mean it could be possible, but I think the power and flexibility really comes with using it on WPMU.

Me?  I’d install it on my servers.  If it seems robust enough I’d sure recommend it to others groups like schools and small businesses.

Facebook should be worried
I’m still thinking that Facebook has peaked.  Social networking is as hot as ever, but Facebook, well I’ve grown weary of it.  Silly apps and no real use for me.  Sure I go there once and a while, but emailing me through there … I might respond, eventually.

With this kind of application, then a savvy company could build something cool for pretty much any group.

Yes the power of Facebook is how many folks are there, so yeah it won’t die easily, but using it for a business or something…I’d pass.  Tie it all in with OpenID and you have one ID for lots of different networks.

Sounds like a great idea.  Sounds like Facebook should be worried.

If all goes according to the (by the seat of my pants) plan I’ll be attending my first SXSWi this week.  I’m going to be doing double duty there covering it for b5media (therefore blogging here) and for Intruders Canada (Intruders is sending me there).

I’ll be a little busy I’m guessing, but I think we should have a Vancouver/Victoria/Canadian blogger meet up somewhere somehow.  Rebecca has the list of BC folks attending and Colleen Coplick is reporting for Techvibes.  Not to be left out, b5 is running the blog network camp chock full of cool folks.  So there should be lots of opportunities for folks to figure out a place time.  I’m thinking the b5media SXSW ranch is a good candidate…

Now, I just have to buy my plane ticket.

Dabble DB continues to help their users use Dabble DB better with all their applications.  Today’s tip/tutorial is–Checking the right boxes–more on getting your UI just right in your application.

Might be simple, but if your users can’t use the application–then everyone’s time has been wasted.

While I’ve been catching up this week Strutta came out of stealth and Techvibes got the first post/scoop on this new online video-based game:

Strutta is an arena, a platform for video competitions, called “games”. A game is created with a theme, such as “Best George W. Bush Impression” or “Best Surprise Wedding Dance”. Users can submit videos for that theme, watch others, and vote which they think is the best.  A key rule is that a user must submit their own video: either they appear in it or are holding the camera. A broad set of categories makes space for almost any video. Leaderboards and graphs provide comprehensive statistics. I was impressed with the clean and functional interface design. Users can start using the site right away and register later.

The site incorporates Web 2.0 features well: videos can be recording from within a browser, uploaded, and embedded from YouTube. Contacts can be added from Facebook and LinkedIn. Its built on Drupal, and powered by Amazon’s EC2 and S3 services, ready to scale. Source: Strutta comes out of stealth: a different kind of “video game” | Techvibes Blog

I don’t have an invite in, yet, and I didn’t see a way to request one on the homepage.  No matter, I’m sure I’ll be able to get a look at it soon enough.

This takes YouTube and Seesmic to the next level.  Who can be the most creative on a given theme?  Who has a great video stashed somewhere to share?  This, to me, is a sign that computers and connections are ready for online video as a solid source of entertainment.  Or is it?

Have computers and connections really caught up?
I hang out with a lot of non-geeks (shocking, I know) and it seems to me that there are a lot of computers out there that can’t really handle this kind of video.  Believe me I’ve tried to help (though I’m starting to play dumb when people ask about their computers), but sometimes an older machine with barely enough RAM and a basic or “lite” Net connection just can’t have a decent experience with online video.

So geeks might be ready…but the rest of the world?  I don’t know.

This isn’t to say that this isn’t cool and great.  In fact the more cool and fun things (okay and useful stuff helps too) there are online, the more people will want faster machines and faster connections.

Other Strutta coverage:

• Strutta - The Game is (Almost) On
• What is a Strutta and is the game on yet? » Miss604’s Vancouver Blog
• Vincent Janelle » Strutta.com launch

It’s a simple thing, but user interface is so important and when developers care about that it makes a huge difference for users.  The folks at Dabble DB  have a post on their blog about combo boxes that is a good read.  Why?  Because it shows, to me at least, that they are thinking about what users need:

Today’s blog post isn’t about a new feature to Dabble DB, but to me, the user interface designer, it feels just as significant.

Interface design on the web can be both simple and complex. The simple path is often the wisest. Don’t deviate from what everyone else does and people will figure out your interface. That’s why you see blue links everywhere on the web: not because there’s anything special about blue, but because that’s what everyone is used to.

Sometimes though, the norm doesn’t quite cut it. Or worse, there is no norm to do the cutting in the first place. One example is the combo box widget. A “combo box” is what we design nerds call it when a text box has a drop-down menu attached and they interact. (And a “widget” is interface-design-speak for a thing that you interact with, like a text box or a button.) In theory, when you start typing in the text box, a drop-down menu appears below, and shows choices related to what you’ve typed. Ideally, it changes quickly as you type. Source: Dabble DB Blog: Building a better widget

Simple.  Elegant.  Important.  Love it.  Props to them.

I still haven’t used Dabble DB, to be honest, but that’s only because I’m not generally a DB guy.  I’ve talked with Avi a bunch, last time was Office 2.0.  I think I need to touchbase again and see what’s up with Dabble.

Rob was commenting on Techvibes about the raft of game companies in Vangroovy:

As a non-gamer, it’s hard to really appreciate how large the industry is. I’ve put together a list of BC’s game studios - both developers and publishers - and I’m asking our readers for feedback. How many staff do these studios employ? Who’s the largest? Who’s buying who? Who are we missing? Please comment on this post. Source: The Gaming Industry in Vancouver

Not being a gamer either (I try, but fail so badly it’s sad), I’m interested as well.  Head over to Techvibes and give Rob all the dirt.