Alan Seiden’s Information Technology

Mantis/400 adds DB2 support to Mantis, the popular PHP-based bug tracking application. I programmed the upgrade with Ira Chandler of Curbstone Corporation, personnel from IBM and Zend, and Mantis’s Victor Boctor.

Mantis/400 runs on IBM System i (formerly AS/400), using Zend Core for i5.

Even before we got involved, Mantis supported several databases, thanks to theADOdb Database Abstraction Library for PHP (and Python). ADOdb’s support of DB2 needed help, though, so we improved it, particularly for System i’s version of DB2.

I recommend the open-source process to anyone who enjoys learning a lot and meeting good people. Our team zestily shared knowledge and discoveries.

More information is available in Alex Woodie’s story in IT Jungle: Mantis Bug Tracker Ported to i5/OS.

Favicons are those eye-catching little pictures that appear in your web browser’s address bar, favorites list (hence the name favicon, short for “favorites icon”), and, with modern tabbed browsers, on tabs.

Instantly recognizable when designed well, favicons represent the brand identity of sites that use them.

Examples

Wikipedia uses the “W” from its logo:

Digg’s favicon represents a person holding a shovel, an image that seems to have been created especially for the favicon:

Usability in a tabbed, multitasking world

Tabbed browsers, such as Firefox and Internet Explorer 7, can show many page-tabs at once, squishing a site’s descriptive text.
Below are examples of tabs without favicons. What sites are they? I don’t know.

These have favicons. At a glance I see a seated robed figure (meditation site), a stylized “Ti” that I recognize as my private TikiWiki site, and a picture of me, which (if I can stop admiring its beauty for a moment), I know represents my blog.

Create your own mini work of art

Favicons are ordinary graphics, generally 16×16 pixels in size, named favicon.ico. How to make them? I found an easy method that even non-artists can use.

The free site FavIcon from Pics allows anyone to convert a normal-sized graphic into a favicon. Instructions:

1. Go to FavIcon from Pics.
2. Click the “Browse…” button to select an image from your computer’s hard drive.
3. Click “Generate FavIcon.ico.”
4. After a few seconds, the site will show a preview image and a download link.
5. If you are pleased with your creation, download favicon.ico to your computer. Then transfer that file, via FTP or your preferred method, to your website’s root folder (often /public_html or /www).
6. View your website with its new addition! (You might have to press the refresh button to make the favicon appear.)

Show your art

If this article inspired you to create a favicon, please add a comment here with the link to your newly enhanced site.

Eye strain is a common complaint from computer users, but eyes aren’t the only part of the body that can hurt. Neck pain and backaches can also result from poor visual ergonomics.

In my latest article, Protect Your Eyes Against Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) (requires free registration after about May 18, 2007), I show several ways to keep your eyes comfortable at the computer.

People who wear bifocals or trifocals should consider occupational progressive lenses, glasses that are made especially for daily computer use. These special glasses can resolve painful postural problems.

Money-saving tip: if you need to buy special (occupational) glasses for computer use, you may not need to buy new frames. Your optician will be happy to use old frames that you might have saved from old prescriptions.

My work to foster PHP on IBM System i was noted in the Feb. 21, 2007, edition of buzz@nysia, the New York Software Industry Association’s weekly news report. I am delighted that buzz@nysia columnist Donna Bogatin chose me as a featured “mover and shaker.”

If you’re reading this blog, you need to protect yourself against Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). As we work and explore the internet, we accumulate little stresses and habits that can hurt us over time.

MC Press just published my piece on how to arrange your computer workstation to avoid injury.

For my research, I interviewed Steve Shostack, former ergonomics consultant to NASA, and Paul Linden, Ph.D. Paul, an aikido teacher and Feldenkrais practitioner, wrote Comfort at Your Computer. I also recommend Paul’s free e-book, Reach Out: Body Awareness Training for Peacemaking, downloadable from www.being-in-movement.com.

Space did not permit me to write about my conversation with Mary Barbe, Ph.D., a researcher at Temple University. According to Dr. Barbe, recent human studies show that repetitive work causes the release of cytokines, proteins that trigger inflammation. The inflammation is not limited to the local area of overwork, but spreads throughout the body, potentially exacerbating conditions such as heart disease. The cytokines also help the body to rest by causing sensations of lethargy or even depression. Not good for productivity! In future articles, I will write about such hidden effects of RSI.

Meanwhile, read how to arrange your computer workstation to avoid injury. Stay healthy!