My Opera
Text-based SpeedDial
Tuesday, December 28, 2010 9:43:42 PM
If this is useful to anyone, I made an Excel file that allow easy implementation of a rudimentary text speed dial. Link below:
Text SpeedDial
Text SpeedDial
Sticky post
On the Posts
Friday, August 15, 2008 5:23:24 PM
Here is a collection of post that I find to be the best ones written on this blog, please excuse the spelling and grammar on some of the older posts.
On Gaming Culture Series:
On Gaming Culture, Part 1
On Gaming Culture, Part 2
On Gaming Culture, Part 3
On Gaming Culture, part 4
On Gaming Culture, part 5
---
On Reviews:
On the Greatest Games, Civilization II
On Knytt
On Chalk, Crayon and Seiklus
On Hulu, Part 1
On The Road to Serfdom
On The Revolution: A Manifesto
On The Departed
---
On Comparison Posts:
On Gameplay vs. Graphics
On Nintendo64 versus Playstation, Part 1
The Strategy of FPS vs. RTS
---
On Video Game Discussion:
On the GBA, Part 1
On the End Game and Beyond
On Video Gaming Addiction
On the Future of Gaming
On Design Challenge, Part 1
On Most Influential Games, Part 1
On My Favourite Games, Part 3
On the Gamecube, Nintendo and a Catch-22
On Games for Windows
On Nostalgia, Part 1
On the Art of Gaming
On the PS3, Part 2
---
On Politics:
On Capitalism, Part 1
On Water Conservation, Part 1
---
On Others:
On What Money Can Not Buy
On unique ideas, part 1
On Novint Falcon, part 1
On Gaming Culture Series:
On Gaming Culture, Part 1
On Gaming Culture, Part 2
On Gaming Culture, Part 3
On Gaming Culture, part 4
On Gaming Culture, part 5
---
On Reviews:
On the Greatest Games, Civilization II
On Knytt
On Chalk, Crayon and Seiklus
On Hulu, Part 1
On The Road to Serfdom
On The Revolution: A Manifesto
On The Departed
---
On Comparison Posts:
On Gameplay vs. Graphics
On Nintendo64 versus Playstation, Part 1
The Strategy of FPS vs. RTS
---
On Video Game Discussion:
On the GBA, Part 1
On the End Game and Beyond
On Video Gaming Addiction
On the Future of Gaming
On Design Challenge, Part 1
On Most Influential Games, Part 1
On My Favourite Games, Part 3
On the Gamecube, Nintendo and a Catch-22
On Games for Windows
On Nostalgia, Part 1
On the Art of Gaming
On the PS3, Part 2
---
On Politics:
On Capitalism, Part 1
On Water Conservation, Part 1
---
On Others:
On What Money Can Not Buy
On unique ideas, part 1
On Novint Falcon, part 1
On Modern vs Classical Art
Wednesday, December 30, 2009 6:34:51 AM
Modern art often baffles me; it is at times pointless, derivative and condescending. They revel in finding 'meaning' in simple objects or shapes--such as putting a old, worn-out rug in the middle of a bland, white room--while seemingly shunning the majesty of the Renaissance and Victorian era painters (including those of America, such as Thomas Chambers and William Ranney), from the baroque to the romantic. This was apparent in Europe this summer, every modern art museum I visited I felt like I wasted time and money, there was an air of boredom or restrained disinterest. On the other hand, visiting the great centers of classical works, the Vatican or the Louvre, there was a palpable sense of excitement and wonder, respectful awe at the skill on display--the attention to detail in the sculptures, the cornucopia of colors in the paintings, the realism of the bust. Below are some examples from a couple minutes of searching (including ones that I do and do not know), I will continue after the break.
----------Some examples:--------------
Classical:
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/americanstories/objectImages/TT.2.22.EL.jpg
http://www.lib-art.com/imgpainting/9/2/10429-the-raft-of-the-medusa-theodore-gericault.jpg
http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/thumbnail/200159/1/Landscape-Inspired-By-The-View-Of-Frascati-1822.jpg
http://www.wga.hu/art/b/boilly/stage_co.jpg
http://com3w09.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/david-oath_of_the_horatii-17842.jpg
http://wortleyvillage.net/postimp/C_Corot/bridgepc.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Cole_Thomas_The_Voyage_of_Life_Youth_1842.jpg
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/b/bierstadt/bierstadt_landers_peak.jpg
Modernist:
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/pollock.number-8.jpg
http://lookintomyowl.com/elisha_blog/what_you_missed09.jpg
http://blogs.princeton.edu/wri152-3/f05/fkherani/11-cubism_Picasso_Woman-Playing-Mandolin.jpg
http://thinkingaboutart.blogs.com/art/images/picasso_2-thumb.jpg
http://www.artquotes.net/masters/josef-albers/homage-to-the-square-62.jpg
http://emptyeasel.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/broadwayboogiewoogiebypietmondrian.jpg
Modern-Classical:
http://v5.tigaer-design.com/gallery/painting/gte_std.jpg
http://www.visionafar.com/GFX/eventidebig.jpg
http://www.inetgrafx.com/gallery/albums/userpics/FJORD-1600.jpg
http://www.vision-afar.com/GFX/tarriance_1280.jpg
http://www.meduzarts.com/upload/portfolio/project/subaru/meduzarts_sub_modct1_ca_hr.jpg
http://www.visionafar.com/GFX/tranfull.jpg
------------------------
Most of the 'abstract' or modernist paintings do little for me, artist like Pollock produce works that are jumbled messes. Yes, some may find solace or meaning is the mindless clutter and supposed organization, I do not.
When in an art museum with modernist paintings, the defense I always get when I remark, "And I'm supposed to be feeling what?" Is that I do not understand or that I am supposed to be feeling nothing (?). The remark that I do not understand must defeat the purpose of art, which is to express the artist view and project it onto others. That I cannot even fathom, beyond things such as 'He is trying to show the clutter and waste of modern society; this works illustrates the plight of modern man; there is a message about our past and how it will shape us', is at times an indictment of the elitist culture they assume.
Now, that is not to say that the painters of old were not elitist, but their artwork could speak to you and even at first glance you could draw something from it. The abstract painters revel in your confusion, say that they have spoken to you, but that is not the case. It is more that I am biased toward the real--concrete, majestic or mundane--but have a dislike of the pointlessly abstract, when the same message could be given in a more sensory-pleasing fashion.
They [the modernist] disguise themselves as masters, when they are more like horrible writers, whose work so confounds the conscious that some may find it brilliant, but which in substance, it is lacking.
----------Some examples:--------------
Classical:
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/americanstories/objectImages/TT.2.22.EL.jpg
http://www.lib-art.com/imgpainting/9/2/10429-the-raft-of-the-medusa-theodore-gericault.jpg
http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/thumbnail/200159/1/Landscape-Inspired-By-The-View-Of-Frascati-1822.jpg
http://www.wga.hu/art/b/boilly/stage_co.jpg
http://com3w09.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/david-oath_of_the_horatii-17842.jpg
http://wortleyvillage.net/postimp/C_Corot/bridgepc.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Cole_Thomas_The_Voyage_of_Life_Youth_1842.jpg
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/b/bierstadt/bierstadt_landers_peak.jpg
Modernist:
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/pollock.number-8.jpg
http://lookintomyowl.com/elisha_blog/what_you_missed09.jpg
http://blogs.princeton.edu/wri152-3/f05/fkherani/11-cubism_Picasso_Woman-Playing-Mandolin.jpg
http://thinkingaboutart.blogs.com/art/images/picasso_2-thumb.jpg
http://www.artquotes.net/masters/josef-albers/homage-to-the-square-62.jpg
http://emptyeasel.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/broadwayboogiewoogiebypietmondrian.jpg
Modern-Classical:
http://v5.tigaer-design.com/gallery/painting/gte_std.jpg
http://www.visionafar.com/GFX/eventidebig.jpg
http://www.inetgrafx.com/gallery/albums/userpics/FJORD-1600.jpg
http://www.vision-afar.com/GFX/tarriance_1280.jpg
http://www.meduzarts.com/upload/portfolio/project/subaru/meduzarts_sub_modct1_ca_hr.jpg
http://www.visionafar.com/GFX/tranfull.jpg
------------------------
Most of the 'abstract' or modernist paintings do little for me, artist like Pollock produce works that are jumbled messes. Yes, some may find solace or meaning is the mindless clutter and supposed organization, I do not.
When in an art museum with modernist paintings, the defense I always get when I remark, "And I'm supposed to be feeling what?" Is that I do not understand or that I am supposed to be feeling nothing (?). The remark that I do not understand must defeat the purpose of art, which is to express the artist view and project it onto others. That I cannot even fathom, beyond things such as 'He is trying to show the clutter and waste of modern society; this works illustrates the plight of modern man; there is a message about our past and how it will shape us', is at times an indictment of the elitist culture they assume.
Now, that is not to say that the painters of old were not elitist, but their artwork could speak to you and even at first glance you could draw something from it. The abstract painters revel in your confusion, say that they have spoken to you, but that is not the case. It is more that I am biased toward the real--concrete, majestic or mundane--but have a dislike of the pointlessly abstract, when the same message could be given in a more sensory-pleasing fashion.
They [the modernist] disguise themselves as masters, when they are more like horrible writers, whose work so confounds the conscious that some may find it brilliant, but which in substance, it is lacking.
On Opera Customization, Part 1
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 8:21:10 AM
Always seeking a more efficient, clean and different way to interface with my oft used programs, I decided awhile ago to undertake the grand adventure of streamlining my browsing experience and making the most of Opera's strengths. I did away with the archaic tab interface and instead sought to utilize the panels feature to its fullest--along with some customized buttons and editing of the mouse/keyboard layout. The result is perhaps my dream interface: clean, slick and--most of all--functional. With continual revision and movement of buttons, address/search bars and other things around, it has come to represent everything I have come to love in a good GUI--customization, minimalism and function.
Minimalism at its finest
At its most minimalistic, my new Opera interface has nothing but the webpage showing, the tab bar/panels/other bars/menu have all been hidden. It creates for a browsing experience that is akin to fullscreen, yet there is a key difference--with my current configuration I can access a bevy of other features and functions with only a click or two, no need to enter/exit fullscreen. The 'Window' panel is a stroke of genius, a feature with so much utility--even at this underdeveloped stage--that it is crazy this feature is not advertised front and center, as a way to replace the tab bar and get more done, faster and easier. That all the other major browsers are still stuck in the 'tabs are the best thing since sliced bread' mindset, this small feature is what they should be moving toward. Not only that, Opera does not (and never did) implemented tabs (pages) in the anemic way that other browsers do, this is true MDI as opposed to their SDI, something that I feel Opera has vastly undervalued.
True MDI, Pages>Tabs
The panels provide a one stop interface with which to switch between the major players when I am browsing: Bookmarks, Notes, Windows (Pages), Downloads and Links (on current page). The Downloads panel could be fleshed out and there are some things that could be changed to make the Bookmarks and Notes more use friendly, but compared to the methods implemented by other browsers, I don't have to open a new tab (Chrome) or window (Firefox) to interact with my Downloads or Bookmarks--simple, clean, effective. Unfortunately, the Opera browser, for several reasons, won't be a major player (in the near future) and all these great user interface paradigms will go to waste, though some can be had via inferior Firefox extensions (like Tree Style Tab).
Bookmark Interface
Lastly, a talk about UI in Opera would not be complete without a talk about mouse gestures, so beautifully implemented that it bears special mention. Opening/closing/bookmarking pages, cycling pages, accessing preferences and various other actions can be accomplished with a combination of mouse gestures and Flipback/Flipforward. Flipback/forward (press right-click then left-click in rapid succession and vis versa) is genius, especially when combined with the switch tab feature, allows easy cycling back and forth within a window, much faster than manually clicking on a page, especially if they are close to each-other (in page order). Being able to move forward and back without needing to find the button to press keyboard shortcuts is something that you don't appreciate until you go back to Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer and their lack of mouse gestures. Firefox has extensions that bring this feature, but the ones I have used so far don't have the same solid responsiveness and utility that Opera's native mouse gesture system brings.
There are a variety of reasons why Opera is my preferred browser, beyond mere browser performance or benchmarks (which to a point, when actually browsing, you can't tell the difference between all the major browsers), Opera provides a nearly endless customizable interface that conforms to the user, instead of like Chrome or Firefox, whose interfaces (without downloading a bunch of bloated extensions) are fairly static and anemic. For minimalism--Chrome--for functionality--Firefox--for minimalism with functionality--Opera.
Everything in one, convenient place
Minimalism at its finest
At its most minimalistic, my new Opera interface has nothing but the webpage showing, the tab bar/panels/other bars/menu have all been hidden. It creates for a browsing experience that is akin to fullscreen, yet there is a key difference--with my current configuration I can access a bevy of other features and functions with only a click or two, no need to enter/exit fullscreen. The 'Window' panel is a stroke of genius, a feature with so much utility--even at this underdeveloped stage--that it is crazy this feature is not advertised front and center, as a way to replace the tab bar and get more done, faster and easier. That all the other major browsers are still stuck in the 'tabs are the best thing since sliced bread' mindset, this small feature is what they should be moving toward. Not only that, Opera does not (and never did) implemented tabs (pages) in the anemic way that other browsers do, this is true MDI as opposed to their SDI, something that I feel Opera has vastly undervalued.
True MDI, Pages>Tabs
The panels provide a one stop interface with which to switch between the major players when I am browsing: Bookmarks, Notes, Windows (Pages), Downloads and Links (on current page). The Downloads panel could be fleshed out and there are some things that could be changed to make the Bookmarks and Notes more use friendly, but compared to the methods implemented by other browsers, I don't have to open a new tab (Chrome) or window (Firefox) to interact with my Downloads or Bookmarks--simple, clean, effective. Unfortunately, the Opera browser, for several reasons, won't be a major player (in the near future) and all these great user interface paradigms will go to waste, though some can be had via inferior Firefox extensions (like Tree Style Tab).
Bookmark Interface
Lastly, a talk about UI in Opera would not be complete without a talk about mouse gestures, so beautifully implemented that it bears special mention. Opening/closing/bookmarking pages, cycling pages, accessing preferences and various other actions can be accomplished with a combination of mouse gestures and Flipback/Flipforward. Flipback/forward (press right-click then left-click in rapid succession and vis versa) is genius, especially when combined with the switch tab feature, allows easy cycling back and forth within a window, much faster than manually clicking on a page, especially if they are close to each-other (in page order). Being able to move forward and back without needing to find the button to press keyboard shortcuts is something that you don't appreciate until you go back to Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer and their lack of mouse gestures. Firefox has extensions that bring this feature, but the ones I have used so far don't have the same solid responsiveness and utility that Opera's native mouse gesture system brings.
There are a variety of reasons why Opera is my preferred browser, beyond mere browser performance or benchmarks (which to a point, when actually browsing, you can't tell the difference between all the major browsers), Opera provides a nearly endless customizable interface that conforms to the user, instead of like Chrome or Firefox, whose interfaces (without downloading a bunch of bloated extensions) are fairly static and anemic. For minimalism--Chrome--for functionality--Firefox--for minimalism with functionality--Opera.
Everything in one, convenient place
GaaraZanta
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