Saturday, November 11
Fun with irssi
So recently, I decided to change from using XChat to using irssi for accessing irc. I had a LOT of help from several folks on the freenode network. In addition, I spent hours perusing the documentation at the official irssi website. It took me a full week to get the settings tweaked to be similar to (or even an improvement on) what I had with xchat.
Since then, I've been slowly adding new scripts and adding other tweaks. Irssi is wonderfully configurable.
One of my annoyances early on, was my tendency to "lose" windows - either channel windows, but more often private message windows. My friend Dennis ([dmp]) got tired of my complaining and constantly asking him to PM me so I could find the right window and he wrote me a nice little script, wnn.pl. There is an existing script on the irssi site called go.pl, but I found that it was more complex and frankly didn't have some of the basic functionality I wanted. With wnn.pl, I can simply type "/wnn err" and it will take me to the first window (whether channel or pm) that has "err" in the name. If I type it again, it takes me to the next one. The script is clean and easy to use (and Dennis has added functionality as we realized some things using it). Thanks, Dennis!
And yay for irssi! It's a little hard to set up, but well worth the effort!
Since then, I've been slowly adding new scripts and adding other tweaks. Irssi is wonderfully configurable.
One of my annoyances early on, was my tendency to "lose" windows - either channel windows, but more often private message windows. My friend Dennis ([dmp]) got tired of my complaining and constantly asking him to PM me so I could find the right window and he wrote me a nice little script, wnn.pl. There is an existing script on the irssi site called go.pl, but I found that it was more complex and frankly didn't have some of the basic functionality I wanted. With wnn.pl, I can simply type "/wnn err" and it will take me to the first window (whether channel or pm) that has "err" in the name. If I type it again, it takes me to the next one. The script is clean and easy to use (and Dennis has added functionality as we realized some things using it). Thanks, Dennis!
And yay for irssi! It's a little hard to set up, but well worth the effort!
Labels: IRC, Software, Technology
Thursday, June 10
What's in a Name?
From the time I first took a legal position (I was still in Law School) until very recently, I used an excellent word processing program called "WordPerfect". It was truly an excellent program. Initially, it ran on DOS and had a large number of wonderful quick keys to do some of your most used functions. With the popularity of Windows, it migrated, incorporated features that allowed its old-time users to continue to use their familiar quick keys, instead of having to learn new ones or resort to using the mouse (which is quite a bit slower).
Along came MS Works and then MS Word. Because it was a MS product, it touted itself as bigger, better and badder than anything else out there. They gave away the program for free with many computers and with Windows. They snapped up marketshare left and right. But they did one thing wrong - they didn't truly build a user-friendly program. Sure, they put in the basics, and eventually added a few bells and whistles, but essentially, the program doesn't hold a candle to the features offered by WordPerfect.
Today, after accidentally almost deleting my file for the third time while trying to change the formatting using quick keys (sometimes, my fingers type faster than I form thoughts - I've been using WP for a long time), I decided to do something about it! I was trying to both arrange my computer and its settings to something palatable, and fix a lot of the settings in MS Word (with which I am stuck at the moment), including using keyboard scripts and quick keys. In the process, I found an excellent website that compares the two programs and the features of each. To my dismay and severe disappointment, I discovered that not only can I not get the keyboard to do exactly what I want and am used to, I can't change it at all! Repeat after me, MS Word is useless!
I finished my first week of work today. The week went by terribly fast, but enjoyably. When I returned home from work, I found that someone had been here to repair the floor in our hallway - there had been a "soft spot". Well, the "repair" job now means that the floor is lower than it was in a much larger area than before (previously the soft spot had been right up against a wall, so we didn't notice it that much). Sigh.
Kirk is back to driving the Spit again for a while. He needs to replace the brake pads on his motorcycle before he rides it again. I drove him to work this morning (since the Spit was parked up there). I think he's glad that, since we got the Jeep, I am no longer using it as a daily driver. It should be a busy weekend!
FYI, I've decided to write a series of articles called "A Look Back", reviewing our trip and the lessons learned there. Coming soon!
Along came MS Works and then MS Word. Because it was a MS product, it touted itself as bigger, better and badder than anything else out there. They gave away the program for free with many computers and with Windows. They snapped up marketshare left and right. But they did one thing wrong - they didn't truly build a user-friendly program. Sure, they put in the basics, and eventually added a few bells and whistles, but essentially, the program doesn't hold a candle to the features offered by WordPerfect.
Today, after accidentally almost deleting my file for the third time while trying to change the formatting using quick keys (sometimes, my fingers type faster than I form thoughts - I've been using WP for a long time), I decided to do something about it! I was trying to both arrange my computer and its settings to something palatable, and fix a lot of the settings in MS Word (with which I am stuck at the moment), including using keyboard scripts and quick keys. In the process, I found an excellent website that compares the two programs and the features of each. To my dismay and severe disappointment, I discovered that not only can I not get the keyboard to do exactly what I want and am used to, I can't change it at all! Repeat after me, MS Word is useless!
I finished my first week of work today. The week went by terribly fast, but enjoyably. When I returned home from work, I found that someone had been here to repair the floor in our hallway - there had been a "soft spot". Well, the "repair" job now means that the floor is lower than it was in a much larger area than before (previously the soft spot had been right up against a wall, so we didn't notice it that much). Sigh.
Kirk is back to driving the Spit again for a while. He needs to replace the brake pads on his motorcycle before he rides it again. I drove him to work this morning (since the Spit was parked up there). I think he's glad that, since we got the Jeep, I am no longer using it as a daily driver. It should be a busy weekend!
FYI, I've decided to write a series of articles called "A Look Back", reviewing our trip and the lessons learned there. Coming soon!
Labels: RTW, Software, Transportation, Work
