Author Archives: Christopher Finke

Digg

Digg’s Transparency Opacity

Muhammad is far better at this than I am, so instead of me trying to be all eloquent about the lack of transparency at Digg, go read Muhammad’s post about Stacy Doss’s account being deleted from Digg.

I will add one thing: check out the comments on the post at Digg. You’ll find a surprising number of people defending Digg’s right to arbitrarily delete accounts. Don’t get me wrong – it’s Digg’s site and they do have the right to delete whatever and whoever they want, but their doing so really makes it hard to believe Kevin Rose when he talks about Digg as a “true, free, democratic social platform.”

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Netscape, Netscape.com, Software, Video

Syndicate Netscape Videos on MySpace

Until I get this feature added to the site, here is a little tool that will convert a Netscape Video syndication code to work on MySpace and other venues that don’t allow script tags.

Paste the Netscape syndication code here:

Is the video widescreen?

MySpace-compatible syndication code:

FYI: If you’re using this code on MySpace, none of the links to Netscape in the video (context menu options, video title) will be functional. This is due to a restriction MySpace places on all Flash movies so that they can’t redirect you to a different page without (or in this case, with) your consent.

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Netscape Blog

Video Player Revisited

This post originally appeared on the Netscape Blog.

We rolled out two major changes to the Netscape video player today:

1. You can now syndicate videos in a cleaner, more minimalistic video player:

As you can see, the title bar is hidden, as are most of the icons on the splash screen. To use this player on your site, simply replace the “embed” in the syndication code with “embed-c”:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.netscape.com/embed-c/480/HZLODVUCOSGKKVGKGWYR"></script>

The “c” stands for “cause you’re worth it!”

2. Netscape Video now supports all video aspect ratios!

You can now upload videos to Netscape in any aspect ratio (standard 4:3, 16:9 widescreen, anamorphic widescreen, etc.), and the player will resize to fit, keeping the title bar and the controls a constant height:

The iPod-compatible version of the video will be presented using the original dimensions as well. For those of you keeping score at home, that makes Netscape the only major video sharing service to offer this kind of aspect-ratio-indifference. Happy uploading!

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Netscape Blog

WTB: Software Engineer, Designer

This post originally appeared on the Netscape Blog.

We’re expanding our team!

Software Engineer

We’re currently looking for a developer to supplement our browser development team that could also lend a hand with Web development. The ideal candidate will have:

  • 3+ years experience in software development.
  • Strong PHP/MySQL skills
  • Substantial C/C++ skills
  • Strong Javascript, XML, and DOM manipulation skills
  • A solid understanding of XPCOM
  • Experience building cross-platform applications
  • and, of course, a willingness to learn, solid time management skills, and a sweet ride that I could maybe borrow sometimes.

Additionally:

  • Familiarity with the Mozilla Firefox codebase is a plus
  • Experience with XUL is preferred but not necessary
  • A college degree is great, but not required; a substantial skillset can speak for itself.

Furthermore, you must be willing to work from home (using awesome Netscape-provided equipment), and you must be willing to let us pay you handsomely for the privilege. If you don’t want to work from home, you could look into renting some office space, but that’s your call. To apply, send your resume and cover letter to Tom at tom@newnetscape.com

Web designer

We’d like to find a talented, motivated individual with:

  • A strong design aesthetic
  • Serious CSS skills (as in, it’s your middle name)
  • Intimate HTML knowledge: semantics, standards (You’re a hand-coder)
  • Hero-level organizational skills

And bonus points if:

  • You’re great at illustration, icons, infographics
  • You’re a self-starter who needs little supervision
  • You have great ideas and are willing to share

As with the Developer position, the Design position is work-from-home (with travel necessary 3-4 weeks/year). We’ll provide equipment and great compensation… just bring the talent. To apply, send your resume and cover letter to Andy at andy@newnetscape.com

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Digg, Ideas, Nerd, Software

Something I can’t stand about Digg

Here’s something I can’t stand about Digg:

Say you’re not logged in and browsing the front page, opening stories and discussions in tabs (or new windows, if you’re stuck in the past) as you go, and you see a story you want to either digg or bury. So you go to the login box on the left and enter your information.

Now, any decent system would process your login and send you back to the page you logged in on. (A better system would prompt you for login information when you try to vote for a story, and after logging you in, process your vote and send you back to the correct page.) Digg, however, will always redirect you to the last page you loaded in Digg, whether or not it was the page from which you logged in. So if I’ve opened a Digg discussion page in a new tab since loading the home page, I’ll be sent there after logging in.

That is extremely lazy programming; instead of checking which page sent the login request, Digg must just store your last loaded page in the session and assume that’s where you want to go. Come on, Kevin; is it that hard to just add something like

<input type=”hidden” name=”referrer” value=”<?=sanitize($_SERVER[“PHP_SELF”])?>” />

to the login form? With as many users as Digg has, you’d think enough people would have complained about it by now for it to be fixed.

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Browser Add-ons, GoogleTabs, Mozilla Firefox, OPML Support, RSS Ticker, Slashdotter, Software, URL Fixer

Extension Updates

Update: URL Fixer was acquired and is now hosted at http://urlfixer.org/

I’ve just updated all of my extensions to be compatible with Firefox 2.0. They’re all available for download at my site, and they’ll all eventually be available at Mozilla Addons as well. No new features for these updates, just compatibility fixes.

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