Yesterday’s 1.15 version of WP-Cumulus caused a serious issue for some users. If the plugin was set to display categories, and all of them contained the same number of posts, the color assignment algorithm would fail and tags would turn black. I was able to quickly fix this and while doing so I also decided to try and lower CPU usage.
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I was about to write a post about how Intel’s Atom processor wasn’t quite fast enough to run Firefox 3. It used to be painfully slow on my netbook, until I found this great little trick. Apparently, Firefox grinds to a halt while trying to find ipv6 internet addresses that are unavailable on most networks.

Luckily, the author of Tech Explorer found out about it and wrote a post about how to disable this ‘feature’. It made Firefox about a hundred times more responsive.

Now if only Adobe would bring the Linux version of their Flash Player up to speed… Version ten is a major improvement, but still not being able to watch YouTube video’s fullscreen is a big bummer.

Ever since I released the first version of WP-Cumulus, people have been asking me for color support. While I agreed that multi-colored tags would probably help make Cumulus look even better, there were a few obstacles to overcome.
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For the last couple of years, people have mostly used a Microsoft browser to use Google websites. I know this is a rather crude statement, but what I mean is that of the two Google has been most successful online while MS continues dominate the desktop and browser market.

Today, Microsoft announced they will be launching a web version of their Office suite. This made me chuckle, as it could lead to a strangely reversed situation where many users use a Google desktop application (Chrome) to use a Microsoft web application.

Chrome isn’t currently on the list of supported browsers, but the whole idea behind it is to create a browser that is ideally suited for online applications (as opposed to traditional, page-based websites). its lightning fast javascript engine could make those spreadsheets fly (by comparison that is).

My guess is that the Office brand name will help to quickly popularize its online exponent, and Chrome might turn out to be the best desktop application to go visit it. Go figure.

A lot of people have contacted me asking whether they could port WP-Cumulus to their CMS of choice. While it’s nice of them to ask, the GPL license wouldn’t let me stop them even if I wanted to. Which I don’t. I love how this little project of mine is spreading like wildfire. I’ve hardly been able to keep up with the comments on my blog and the Cumulus-related email I get. I now know what people mean when they say the response has been overwhelming.

So to answer this question once and for all: Yes, you can. As long as your stick to the GPL license you can do anything with WP-Cumulus. If you port Cumulus to a new platform, please let me know so I can write about it in posts like this.

Here are three(!) new ports recently released by their respective authors. Thanks to Christian Philipp (TYPO3), Rob Antonishen (Serendipity) and Big Bear (Joomla) for their work.
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I have no idea whether anyone has thought of this already, so please don’t sue me. Folding vertical browser tabs. The idea is to be able to fold and unfold tabs, thereby dividing the horizontal space available. This would enable you to not only browse more than one website at once, it would also make copy-pasting stuff easier. Or looking up stuff in a dictionary whilst reading a page that uses fancy words. And it would allow you to fully use the screen real estate on large displays.

The image is a very very crude (it took me only 10 minutes to make) mockup of the idea, based on Firefox. It has four tabs, with two of them ‘active’ (unfolded) and two ‘inactive’ (folded). Click the small version to see a higher resolution one. It should give you an idea of that I mean. Let me know what you think.

I know from my own experience that naming an application you’ve created can be just as challenging as creating it in the first place. A name should fit the purpose and be catchy at the same time. Some names are so clever they’ll not only increase the software’s chances of success, they also make me smile. Here are some of the best ones I’ve come across.
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