2 Color Chooser tool now available

I released my web based, interactive “2 color chooser” tool today. You can find it here or in the “USEFUL LINKS” section on my blog page.

This tool allows you to select two colors using RGB or HSV. Here are some of different uses that motivated me to me write it. Here is what it looks like in action:

Note that the little + sign next to the gradient allows you to see the CSS source code for the gradient commands.

The tool can be used to see how well two nested colors contrast which is useful for determining the effectiveness of color schemes. This is especially useful for determining how well a scheme works for fonts in page headers/footers or to determine whether color blind users can distinguish the colors.

It can also be used to see how well two colors work in a gradient. Different browsers support different gradient options. This tool is tuned for FF because that is what I use. Any suggestions for other browsers would be greatly appreciated.

Finally it can be used to test color differences on different monitors. You can bring it up side by side on two monitors and visually compare/contrast the color display. I have used it for tuning my HP and Dell monitors. I was surprised at the initial variation.

This tool demonstrates client side javascript programming techniques using JQuery including dynamic updates, slider bars and simple menus. If you are interested in the source code you can download it by selecting one of the links below.

The files that I wrote are 2-color-chooser.html, 2-color-chooser.js, 2-color-chooser.css and hdr.css. All of the rest are from various public domain packages.

You are free to modify or incorporate the software but I would be grateful if you would cite me as a source.

And last but not least, I would be remiss in not mentioning the book “Javascript, The Definitive Guide” by David Flanagan. If you are at all interested in the learning javascript this book is a must have. I have read both the 5th and 6th editions and heartily recommend both, although, in my view, the 6th edition is slightly better.

Have fun!

SecEd released

I officially released SecEd into the public domain today, you can find it here.

SecEd was written using Python 2.7 and the wxPython 2.8 package. It allows you to securely edit sensitive data. It also has a feature that allows you to rate the strength of your password.

Because it is written in Python it is portable and because it is open source you can use it to learn about wxPython and/or teach me more about it.

Have fun!

 

Find gcc/g++ header files and/or contents

There have been a number of times when I wanted to find out where an include file was in the default compiler search path and there have been other times when I wanted to find out which header file contained a specific setting so I created this simple little bash script that does both in the hopes that it will be useful.

iPad2 Model Numbers

I was looking for a simple a comparison of iPad models but could not find one so I created one by gleaning information from various sites. I cannot vouch for the accuracy but it should be pretty close.

iPAD2 Models

Model NameModel NumberRAMColorWIFI3GTypeCarrierNotes
MC755LL/A234007116GBBlackYesYesCDMAVerizon
MC763LL/A234050232GBBlackYesYesCDMAVerizon
MC764LL/A234055764GBBlackYesYesCDMAVerizon
MC769LL/A194553116GBBlackYesNo
MC770LL/A233932232GBBlackYesNo
MC773LL/A191815916GBBlackYesYesGSMAT&T
MC774LL/A191822932GBBlackYesYesGSMAT&T
MC775LL/A191826564GBBlackYesYesGSMAT&T
MC916LL/A194567464GBBlackYesNoThis one seems out of sequence.
MC979LL/A194559516GBWhiteYesNo
MC980LL/A233938632GBWhiteYesNo
MC981LL/A233987764GBWhiteYesNo
MC982LL/A233990416GBWhiteYesYesGSMAT&T
MC983LL/A233998632GBWhiteYesYesGSMAT&T
MC984LL/A234001764GBWhiteYesYesGSMAT&T
MC985LL/A234106116GBWhiteYesYesCDMAVerizon
MC986LL/A234047832GBWhiteYesYesCDMAVerizon
MC987LL/A234048764GBWhiteYesYesCDMAVerizon

 

Spammed into oblivion

My Drupal implementation kept getting spammed into oblivion. I was not able to upgrade – possibly because the site was hacked so I decided to switch to WordPress.

I have not done any posting for more than a year because of the spam. It is really annoying and serves no useful purpose.

Interestingly much of my work in cloud architecture/development is focused on security but like so many other things, it is easier to find time to address security issues at work rather than at home.