Category: blog

This is one of those sticking points I have with Lightroom: there’s no native FTP export. The functionality is built-in, because it’s possible to export a web gallery via FTP. But not from the regular export. I starting thinking about developing such a plugin as a side project and downloaded the Lightroom SDK to see what I’d be in for. Well it turns out that Adobe already wrote an FTP plugin, they just don’t include it in the default install.

This is one project that seems to slip through the cracks when it comes to doing regular updates (original post, first update). The irony is that the more I forget about it the better the comparison becomes as I leave the test strip in the sun longer. This time it’s been 18 weeks since I first hung the test strip in a south facing window. This weekend is probably the last one of the spring that will see the daytime highs staying under 100℉ (38℃).

I’m no stranger to organizing systems. I’ve attempted to GTD and various other flavors of other people telling me how to sort my stuff. I think at the root of it I don’t think in terms of categories (or contexts in GTD-speak). I like to have all my stuff spread out in front of so I can scan over everything at once. This is how a cork board saved me from being losing control of my life.

I’ve been working on this article for a while. Ever since I started experimenting with ePubs exported from Ulysses, I’ve been blogging my results. Now I’m ready to share a full eBook production process using Ulysses and my KBasic style. After introducing my KBasic style, I found that I still wanted to make some adjustments to it. Actually it was more than just a few adjustments. I tried the style on several eReaders and found that I needed to change the text markup too.

This is a simple app that I built with Apple Automator that I’ve been using to upload files to this blog. Overall, WordPress’s web page uploader works well, but it requires a browser window be open. Sometimes I just want to send a file quickly and not bother with that. One of the reasons people like my Post to WordPress plugin for Ulysses is that it avoids having to open up WordPress to save a draft post.

Previously I wrote about using Hazel to manage my screenshots. I’ve updated that somewhat and now I’ve brought Lightroom into the mix. By doing this I’ve cut down on some of the automation but increased my output options have have better looking screenshots to post. But why worry so much about screen shots? Well, they’re an important way to show what’s happening on a computer screen. Making sure they’re legible makes for more informative articles here.

The Ulysses app can do a lot besides writing. I’ve written a lot about how I abuse the poor thing. Its export options offer a variety of formats. One that was convenient was the RTF option. It meant I had one click export to a standard rich text format that’s usually requested by publishers. The v2.1 Ulysses update replaced RTF with DOCX, the new Word 2007 format. These files aren’t usually accepted via email because of the chance that they carry a macro virus.

I’ve made a significant update to my app Post to Wordpress for Ulysses today. I’ve improved it so that there’s no need to edit the Automator app or need two parts (app & code file) for everything to work. The blog information (user name, password, URL, and SSL preference) is now stored in a separate file. Also, all the posting code is now inside the app, and the user doesn’t need to create a ~/bin folder to keep the Ruby code file in.

Here’s a neat trick that works when you’ve shot multiple events on one card. Let’s suppose it’s been a busy day with your camera and you’ve been shooting to same card all day. If all the photos are in the same folder, then you’ll have to sort them on the computer. But if you planned ahead, then each event would be in a separate folder. It usually takes no more than a couple of button presses to tell your camera to use a new folder.

I just uploaded a style sheet for the Ulysses writing app that I’ve been working on to the Ulysses Style Exchange. It’s called KBasic and it’s meant to make creating ePub files easy. I’ve been fighting with ePub formatting for a while now. It turns out I was trying to do too much. The eReaders (hardware & software) do a great job of displaying even unformatted text. I even experimented with using a blank stylesheet to see what would happen.