Month: January 2012

A former colleague used to say, “Make it fun to get it done.” The obverse is when a necessary task becomes fun. So it was when the website of OC International-UK needed a bit of fast forwarding to replace out of date information and a good, but dated, appearance.
Since the 1960s encounters with computers gave me a lot of fun during the hard work and this was just the same.
GIMP is open-source software for graphics; a new style OC logo was made with it.
TextWrangler is a great, free text editor for changing HTML code, even working to files on a remote HTML and FTP sites.
Tracking down some truly free clipart took a while and recasting some of the text proved a minor part of the job.
Then along came Microsoft Internet Explorer. The original site used cascading style sheets, one file for IE, another for the rest of the world. In my learn-as-you-go style this became apparent only when finally loading up Windows XP and IE on my Mac.
Now, the site seems to work for Safari, IE, Opera, Chrome andOmniweb. Great fun – until the next review or a total replacement on something else.

30 January, 2012

At work I used to read an Australian magazine, Kategoria, and was disappointed when it ceased being published. It was a thoughtful, thought provoking set of articles about contemporary life and the Christian faith.
One particular issue focussed on The Family, causing me sufficient disquiet that I worked to get the Feba world talking about family issues, promoting a biblical view within the disparate cultures across that world.
It had some success, with – as usual – many ideas that flew like lead balloons.
Great joy today when I found out that all 31 editions of Kategoria are available on the web site of The Gospel Coalition as PDF files to download. And that means less space on my hard drive, but more on the shelf in my overcrowded study.
Nice to see you again!

30 January, 2012