Tag: microsoft

The forced downgrade: going back to Visio for web prototyping

When designing prototypes you could do a lot worse than Visio. But you could also do a lot better. Axure, for example, should make this article irrelevant, as should the fact that I generally have little positive to say about Microsoft in the web realm.
So why this article? Well, I wanted to say a few …

Originally published: 8 Nov 2008 in Technical

Accessibility may affect feasibility of Sharepoint intranet

Microsoft’s Office Sharepoint Server 2007 packs some cosmetic improvements to accessibility, but considerable development will be needed to resolve out-of-the-box problems.

Originally published: 22 Oct 2007 in Technical

The brown noses of the BBC

Just over a week ago, I indirectly criticised the BBC for running away to the the Jade Goody media circus. A bad case of overexposure if ever there was one!
Now they’re at it again and this time the Beeb is cosying up to our old friends from Redmond:

Spot the overexposed product!
You see, ever since the …

Originally published: 31 Jan 2007 in Technology

Flash is 10

Flash is ten years old, as the BBC reports, and for any Internet technology still around after a decade that’s a considerable achievement.
When I started out in web design, it was almost the only medium I worked in, reflecting the tastes of the time. That was before the Flash backlash, led by the arch-headline-grabber himself …

Originally published: 13 Dec 2006 in Technology

Smart clients dress in grey

I’ve been working on several .NET Smart Clients recently.
A Smart Client is a hybrid application in that the user runs it from the desktop, but its data is provided by a Web Service.
I tend to avoid the dull marketing speak that Microsoft churns out. This kind of output is often a gloopy porridge with just …

Originally published: 21 Mar 2006 in Technical

Microsoft takes on Adobe / Macromedia

I stumbled across Microsoft Expression this afternoon, quite by chance, really. Expression is a three-product graphics suite for designers. It borrows enormously from Macromedia Studio and a bit of Adobe Photoshop.
It seems to me to be quite a bald response to Macromedia’s buyout, but as usual Microsoft has an angle.
That angle is XAML, the UI …

Originally published: 17 Feb 2006 in Technology

IE7: worth the wait?

I’ve been roadtesting the beta 1 of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7, which was released to a limited audience (though I gatecrashed myself a copy). How’s it been? Well, I started this item already but it crashed, so that’s a bad start!

Fans of Redmond’s finest (not counting Milt’s Barbecue, of course) have been made to wait …

Originally published: 2 Aug 2005 in Technology

More IE woes: the curved corner DIV

In my current efforts to adhere to div-only layouts, it was expected that I would eventually get to a sticky point.
I’m not used to hacking CSS, so progress for me has been slow. Hacking CSS is something of an unnatural process, particularly when you feel most comfortable you’re coding pages fluently from a design.
Of course, …

Originally published: 19 Jul 2005 in Technical

Elsewhere on MikePadgett.com …

Kuurne Brussel Kuurne

The 2010 Kuurne Brussel Kuurne was marked by strong winds and heavy rain. We caught up with the riders on the Oude Kwaremont. …

  • Originally published: 28 Feb 2010 in Editorial

Death at Intervals

José Saramago Harvill Secker (2008) Author won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998 As translated by Margaret Jull Costa, Saramago is the sort of wise old gent we’d want present if we could still …

  • Originally published: 3 Jul 2008 in Books

Legend on the prowl

Apparently, a black panther has been spotted stalking through the forest near Arlon. With this latest in a string of sightings, no-one yet seems capable of answering the forgotten question: just how on …

  • Originally published: 5 Oct 2009 in Editorial

Oh, we do like to be beside the lakeside

Sometimes, if you’re really sharp, you can make weekends feel like a full week’s holiday. That’s what J and I decided last night, back in the real world at Sheffield’s superlative Pasta …

  • Originally published: 7 Aug 2006 in UK

The Gospel According To Jesus Christ

José Saramago Harvill (first published 1999) You can imagine the sort of outraged comments this book will have provoked from many zealous Christians. If online bookseller Amazon certainly intended customer reviews to help sell …

  • Originally published: 7 Aug 2008 in Books

Who is that guy?

Photo of Mike Padgett

Hello you. I'm Mike Padgett and I work in the technology sector as an Information Designer.

I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.

I'm based in Brussels, Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is St Feuillien Brune.

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