Author: Steven Garrity

Deplaning – a short story

by Steven Garrity

I was invited to read a piece of fiction on a segment called “The Write Lane” on the CBC Radio PEI show, Mainstreet with host Mitch Courmier.

We spoke a bit about how writing for a weblog differs from tradition creative writing. I chose to read from a work-in-progress short-story (that I secretly hope will turn into a novel) called Deplaning.

For your listening and reading pleasure:

 

Reading on the (real world) Radio

by Steven Garrity

I’ll be reading from a short-story on CBC Radio PEI tomorrow. The reading is part of “The Write Lane”, a weekly piece featuring local writers. I should be on around 5:30PM Thursday, July 10.

If I can get my act together, I hope to post both the audio from the interview/reading and the text of the short-story.

 

A new word order: digital wuffie

by Steven Garrity

A friend of mine has put a new spin on the word “WiFi”. From this day forth, wifi shall be known as “wuffie” (hear it pronounced – WAV). It can rhyme with party, which is convenient.

Also, harkening back to the old classic “gif” vs. “jif” debate, this same friend has started pronouncing the “g” in digital as a hard “g” (hear it pronounced “digital wuffie” WAV).

Spread the word. I’m living in the wellspring of language.

 

Proposal: An Album File Format

by Steven Garrity

While I don’t have the talent or motivation to follow through on this idea, I thought it was worth sharing. Would it make sense to have an album file format that served as a container for individual songs?

I imagine some of the following features:

  • A container file, similar to ZIP or TAR (compression probably not necessary, since most music files are compressed)
  • Contains album metadata
    • Artist
    • Liner notes
    • Web links
    • Cover art (in a standard format accessible to player apps)
    • Song order listing
  • Contains the songs files (perhaps format agnostic? Could contains MP3s, Ogg, ACC, etc.) rather than just linking to a song, as a playlist does

This would purely be a matter of convenience, as all of this functionality is technically available now through playlists and folders. I might also comfort some artists who are concerned about the single-based bias (as opposed to full albums) of music online.

 

Always use the form Label tag

by Steven Garrity

Late last year, a co-worker asked me why we weren’t using the <label> HTML form tag. I wasn’t sure, but it’s my job to know things like that. A little research revealed the answer: because I suck. From that point on, we’ve used the label tag wherever appropriate (some historical work hasn’t yet been updated, but it will be eventually).

If you ever find yourself writing (x)HTML forms, you should always use the label tag. In case you aren’t familiar with it (I thought I knew all there was to know about HTML, and I hadn’t even heard of it), here’s an example (try clicking on the text labels):




<form>
<div><input type=”radio” name=”options” id=”option1″ />
<label for=”option1″>Apples</label></div>
<div><input type=”radio” name=”options” id=”option2″ />
<label for=”option2″>Oranges</label></div>
<div><input type=”radio” name=”options” id=”option3″ />
<label for=”option3″>Papaya</label></div>
</form>

The label and corresponding input don’t have to be adjacent – they are associated with the for/id attributes. The label is then clickable just like the control and the browser does all the work for you – no messy JavaScript required.

It works in most every browser on the planet and the few that don’t support it (Safari being the most notable) ignore it gracefully. There are accessibility benefits and we all get clickable form labels that mirror the functionality of most operating system controls.

This tag has been around forever and smarter people than myself have been urging us all to use it for a long time. Since I was so late to the game, I thought I’d share, in case others like myself weren’t in the know.

 

Hey New York, Thanks for the smog!

by Steven Garrity

From all in Atlantic Canada, to all in the Eastern US: Thanks for the smog.

Today, in our small capital city of Charlottetown (population approx. 35,000), we have an “Air Quality and Health Advisory”. Apparently, a hot, humid air mass has moved in from the northeastern U.S. and brought with it smog.

This map shows our approximate location relative to the eastern United States. You’d think we’d be safe up here. Apparently smog isn’t just a problem for large cities.