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Posts with tag test

Filed under: Odds and ends, Internet, Design, Fun, Games, Web services

What's your Hue IQ?

Hugh IQ

Ever wondered how accurately your eyes can see the subtleties of color? Find out by taking this quick test. Drag and drop colored squares in each of four rows according their hue, then submit the results for calculation. The lower your score, the better your eyes discern color.

The test indicates which hues you see best and also lets you compare your results with others in your gender and age range. I wasn't too thrilled when I got a 61 until I found out someone scored over 1,000. Wow.

For most people, this is just a fun little time-waster (or a way for you super-competitive types to beat up on your pals -- "Dude, I see olive-green better than you!"). For anyone in Web or graphic design, however, it might be an interesting little test to see how your eyes measure up.

Filed under: Developer, Internet, Features, Linux, Open Source, How-Tos

Flipping the Linux switch: Linux web tools, Pt. 2 - Using LAMP for testing

small apache2 install graphicThere was a toss up this week about whether it would be better to dig right in to the Linux HTML editors, or to wax poetic about setting up LAMP so that those choosing to go the content management system (CMS) route could test any changes they made with such editors on their local machines.

We ultimately decided to tackle setting up a LAMP testing ground. This will certainly not be necessary for every single person out there who just wants to put up a web site. If your site is not using PHP-driven content that interacts with or requires a database backend, and you just plan on designing static web pages, there is absolutely no need to do any of this.

If you are perfectly content to upload your site and integrate any supporting elements (once again, things like databases) live and on the web and make changes there, where it is possible that everyone can see your style sheet testing or things may be temporarily broken, you don't need to do this either.

Some people, though, really like to get things on their CMS tweaked to near perfection before releasing their content on the world. Other people need to know exactly what a dynamic site is going to look and act like before it goes live. The combination of Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) makes this possible.

Read more →

Filed under: Design, Developer, Internet

htmlPlayground: learn and test HTML and CSS

HTML Playground
htmlPlayground is a helpful reference for web developers of any skill level. It provides an easy way to generate, test, and learn about HTML and CSS syntax. Simply select your reference (HTML tags, attributes, or CSS properties), and then select an item like "blockquote."

htmlPlayground will then display a description of the item (to explain what it's used for), an example code snippet that is editable, and a rendered preview of the code snippet. The snippet is color coded: green for tags, red for attributes, and black for regular text.

If you click on a green tag in the snippet, you can edit the tag's attributes easily via another pane. When you're happy with your finalized code, you can of course copy/paste it to an HTML file to use on your website.

[Via garyll]

Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Web services

Test Everything! - Test your website with over 100 tools

Serving as a webmaster's Swiss Army knife, Test Everything! allows you to run a bunch of different tests on your website and domain name, ranging from Alexa traffic details to CSS validation. To use, simply type in your website's URL, select a category, and check the boxes next to the tests you want to run. When you've selected all of your tests, click the "Test website!" button and wait for your test results to be generated. The Test Everything! site will then return a helpful aggregation of links to each of the specific tests you chose.

While some tests like the "Crapola Web Translator" aren't very useful, Test Everything! lets you run over 100 tests in one fell swoop. Our favorite tests (aside from standard HTML/CSS validation) include "Server Info" which displays info like your webserver's IP address and OS, "Website Speed Test" which shows how fast your specified URLs load, and the "Test your web design in different browsers" test which, well...you know.

[Via makeuseof.com]

Filed under: Audio, Business, Google

Google looking for radio ad guinnea pigs

google radio ads testingGoogle has been testing their audio ads in a few markets since the purchase of dMarc last year. In December they officially announced the start of beta testing and things are apparently going better than expected. So well in fact that the team is looking for additional advertisers to jump on board to join the beta test and create high quality radio ads, and even set their own budgets.

Interested parties can sign up to test the clean and simple interface, with custom reporting and targeting options. Ads only take a few days to create before the initial campaign is launched which is a far cry from the weeks that it normally takes for radio ads. If you want to listen to some sample ads, you can check them out here.

Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web services, Freeware, Open Source

VirtualSafari: a web-based front end to Apple's browser

VirtualSafari: a web-based front end to Apple's browser
If you're building a website without a Mac on hand, but need to test how it performs in Apple's Safari web browser, a mere screenshot of how it renders might not be enough. Since a Mac isn't lying around for hands-on testing, what's a web designer to do? Why, install VirtualSafari on your own server, of course. VirtualSafari is a web-based front end to WebKit, the open source rendering engine behind Apple's browser. Setting this up to might not be for the faint of heart (instructions are included in the download), but if you follow through, you'll have the proper testing grounds for making sure your sites are ready for prime time on a Mac - sans the Mac. This could be a handy tool for designers who want or need to consider the Mac constituency, especially since Safari's market share is on the rise, and WebKit powers more popular Mac OS X browsers than just Safari; OmniWeb (random trivia: it beat Netscape by a year with image support) and Shiira also ride the WebKit wave.

VirtualSafari is provided free from Sveinbjorn Thordarson's site, where he (as you might expect) hosts a test copy.

Filed under: Web services, Google

Google comments on UI tests

It seems like every month there's talk of Google testing some new feature on a few randomly-selected users. Until now they've kept to themselves about these things, but today there's a post on the offical Google Blog that confirms and explains what's going on. There's no revelations, here, just what we already knew: "From time to time, we run live experiments on Google—tests visible to a relatively few people—to discover better ways to search. We do this because there’s no good substitute for understanding how real people, in real-world situations, actually operate." They do toss a little denial into the mix, though, passing off their recent job search move as just "testing new ways to refine searches." "There's no set schedule when we'll roll out these sorts of new ideas (if at all)," the post says, "but these tests help us to improve your search experience." In other words, expect these little tests to keep popping up from time to time.

Filed under: Fun, Web services

Web 2.0 or Star Wars character?

Web 2.0 or Star Wars?So Victor already hooked you up with today's Time Waster, but here's a little knowledge test to try on your lunch break: Web 2.0 or Star Wars Character? A couple examples: Oyogi? Meebo? Tarkin? I somehow managed a score of 39 out of 43 ("I recommend moving out your parents' basement.") despite my inferior Star Wars knowledge, but then I write about Web 2.0 all day, every day and found it hysterical. Post your own scores in the comments.

[Via kottke.org]

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

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