ASP.net has that neat little feature where all the controls can start with <asp:.  It makes it easy to code.  I had numerous custom controls and I always had to register the control on each page to use it.  Scott Guthrie had a great tip on how to register the controls in the web.config file so that it doesn’t have to be done in each page.Read More...

BlogEngine.Net supports XMLRPC and the MetaWeblog API.  This allows it to support other tools like Windows Live Writer.  But where are the specifications for the API and WLW found?  I came across some interesting related links along the way in trying to figure out how to add proper slug support for pages in BlogEngine.Net.Read More...

Is Software As a Service hype or real.  Microsoft Exchange Server Hosting is not only real, but extremely cost effective. Read More...

NDoc is dead. Long live NDoc! How to generate MSDN style documentation using Sand Castle on Visual Studio 2008. Read More...

Using field codes to replace values in content, templates, and reports allows users and designers a great deal of flexibility for creating and managing content and templates without requiring code changes.

This article is a summary of how to use field codes in content, templates, or reports and how to convert them to object property values and format and replace them when displayed or rendered.  This is based on a similar pattern that Microsoft Word uses when formatting fields.  It’s also commonly used in WordPress and WordPress themes.Read More...

Version control systems are wonderful tools and terrible tools all depending on the process used to manage the files stored in them.  They allow tracking changes, updates, reversing updates, comparing to older updates, and creating multiple branches and variations of files ad-infinitum.  What are good rules to keep good tools from going bad?Read More...

Andrea Joki is without a doubt the best child portrait photographer I’ve ever seen. She is located in Helsinki Finland, so you may have a way to travel to meet with her.  She does take occasional assignments in the United States and Australia.Read More...

The Guide To Art Schools has published a list of free photo editing software at The 11 Best Free Photo Editing Programs.  The list includes:

1. Gimp
2. Photoscape
3. Paint.NET
4. ArtWeaver
5. Serif PhotoPlus SE
6. Pixia
7. VC VicMan's Photo Editor
8. Ultimate Paint
9. Magix Xtreme Photo Designer 6
10. PhotoFiltre
11. Lightbox Image Editor

The Web list includes:

1. Picnik
2. SplashUp
3. FlauntR
4. Adobe Photoshop Express
5. Sumo Paint

via Keith Cushner.

They left off one of my favorite desktop photo editing tools, Picassa.

Getting the right date and time sounds simple enough, but when you look at a few interesting scenarios with multiple teams coordinating actions across multiple time zones with multiple clients and servers, designing for the date and time for a given event becomes complicated very quickly.  I’d like to share an some approaches that I think work well in .Net.Read More...

Leveraging Nathan Smith's 960.gs, I’ve created some 960 grid templates for Expression Design 2.  Included in the zip file are design templates for the 12 column and 16 column formats.

960_Expression.zip (488.48 kb)

Enjoy!