Web Standards, Accessibility & More » API

twitterapi Meetup at Twitter HQ

Dennis — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:14:02 +0000

A couple nights ago, I attended a @twitterapi meetup at the Twitter HQ in downtown San Francisco. It was pretty cool just being there, and great to get updated on the Twitter API while also doing a little networking. It was pretty informal as expected which was good. The Twitter guys basically opened up the floor for questions and comments on the Twitter API. They said “in order for us to succeed, you [the 3rd party developers] need to succeed”. Beer and pizza was served which was cool, and not surprising since there were about 3 women scattered in a sea of 25- to 40 year-old men! There was approximately 150 people in attendance.

Here are some takeaways from the discussion:

Basic Authentication to be deprecated as soon as June 2010, just a few months away! In favor of Open Auth.
For non-web clients, xauth is suggested for authentication. You may email “api AT twitter DOT com” to request access.
A few asked, but they didn’t respond to questions about advertising.
An address book API is coming soon.
They plan on using the HTML5 Geolocation feature.
Enhancing functionality for Favorites in the API is on the list, but not a priority.
The word “Tweet” is OK to use in an application name as long as the app is solely a Twitter app (does not include other social networking functionality).
Follow the Twitter API at @twitterapi

Attended Web 2.0 Expo in SF

Dennis — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:26:24 +0000

Last week, I attended the Web 2.0 Expo conference at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. The sponsors included O’Reilly Media, Adobe, Microsoft, and eBay. Overall, it was a pretty good conference, with lots of discussion about mobile and geo-location, “Cloud Computing”, and of course, Twitter and Facebook. Here are some tidbits I picked up:

Mobile web usage doubled in 2008.
Nokia is the world’s largest digital camera producer (as they are the biggest mobile phone manufacturer).
App written by Google in HTML5 for iPhone and Android is sweet.
Mobilize Don’t Miniaturize
Need to read up on the W3C Geolocation API
Since 2003, web page file size has tripled!
Only 1% of iPhone Apps are used long-term.
For usability testing, research only what is necessary.
Don’t put branding ahead of users.

The day before the conference, I took and vacation day and brought my wife and kids up from Cupertino to “the city” for a mini-vacation. We stayed at a very nice hotel for which we got a great rate through HotWire.com. Here’s a Flickr album of the family portion of the trip.

Computer nerd area

Exhibit Hall

Dennis at Golden Gate bridge

Twitter-Related Apps and Articles

Dennis — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:02:13 +0000

Here’s a list of some fun, interesting, and (sometimes) valuable web sites and applications that provide extra services for your Twitter acount.

Web Sites & Applications

Accessible Twitter (my app): “Web 2.0″ has created even further concern with web accessibility. Twitter web site that is accessible for individuals with any type of disability or limited technology.
Tweet Stats: Lots of statistical information on your account and Twitter ‘user agents’.
TweetValue: How much is your Twitter profile worth?
Tweet Burner: Shorten, track, and share links.
Twitter Grader: Get a ranking of your account.
WordPress to Twitter: The WP-to-Twitter plugin posts a Twitter status update from your blog using the Cli.gs URL shortening service to provide a link back to your post from Twitter.
Free Twitter Designer: Design your page.
My First Tweet: ‘Nuff said.
Twitterberry: Twitter application for the BlackBerry.
Twitter’s mobile site: ‘Nuff said.

Articles

Here’s a good list of article about Twitter and tips on how to use it.

Tips for a transformed twitter (Boagworld)
WordPress to Twitter (Joe Dolson)
15 Useful Twitter Hacks and Plug-Ins For WordPress (Smashing Magazine)
How to Use Twitter Without Twitter Owning You – 5 Tips
Welcome to the Hive Mind; Learn How to Search Twitter
Twitter & the Law of Reciprocity
Twitter API Driving Twitter Apps Out of Business?

Addendum (March 30 and May 20)

Found more interesting ones:

TwitPwr: Short URLs for Twitter with Analytics and user profile pages.
Twooting: Daily podcast about Twitter.
twt.fm: Share music.
twitvidio: The easiest way to share videos on Twitter.
e-Penis: Always wanted to know how big your Twitter e-Penis is?
TweetBrain: Applies Twitter’s immense collective intelligence for Questions and Answers

I’m Now on Twitter

Dennis — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:52:09 +0000

So I’m finally on Twitter, the social network that informs users of what each other is doing. The web site and service is excellent; it’s very easy, fast, and it just works! There’s an excellent Twitter API for developers to have fun with. My Twitter account is dennisl.

“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

Simple Instructions for Google Map on Web Page

Dennis — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:22:48 +0000

So you want to embed an interactive Google Map on your web page? Here are the basic steps/instructions to do so.

1) Go to the Google Maps API page and request a free API Key. You’ll get the key and some sample code. It’s good for all pages under one domain. Keep this open and/or save the page content.

2) Open the HTML page for the map, and copy the linked JavaScript from the sample code into the document head. This is the first SCRIPT tag.

3) Copy the load() function from the sample code into the HTML page or into an externally linked JavaScript file. This is in the second SCRIPT tag.

4) Call the load() function in the body onload event, and the GUnload() function in the body unload event.

5) Replace the longitude and latitude values in the load() function with the values of your location on your map (these are the two numbers after “GLatLng”). You can find the longitude and latitude of your location. Here are some sites to help with this:

GeoCoder
Maporama
Find the location in Google Maps, the run this code from the browser’s location bar (paste and hit Enter or Go): javascript:void(prompt(”,gApplication.getMap().getCenter()));

6) One way or another, be sure to have alternative content (such as a static map) when JavaScript is not available on the client side (browser). A popular method is the NOSCRIPT tag.

You’re done! check out this Google Map example on this salon web site that I did. Go to the Google Map documentation for more details.