Goodbye Navbar!

I finally found out how to remove the blogger navbar - and the good thing about it is that it's not against Blogger's Terms of Service. So this is absolutely legal.

So what's this navbar again?

It's that annoying bar at the top of every blogger page. Sure, blogger let's you choose from several different color presets, but you can only choose from four color schemes. No offense meant to Google or Blogger in particular but this navbar is an eyesore. It so clashes with the whole look of the blog.

While blogger gives you the chance to edit what color scheme the navbar will take, it doesn't give you any easy way to get rid of it. So how do we take care of that problem? The simple solution is to modify the stylesheet.

Before making any changes to the template, I would suggest backing it up - especially if you don't understand half of what the template code is - so just in case you make a mistake, you can easily restore it. To backup the template follow these steps.

1. First determine which blog (if you have several of them) you'd like to edit. Then from the dashboard, click on Layout.
2. Go to the "Edit HTML" tab; and
3. Click on the link that says "Download Full Template".

After backing up the template you can now begin to mess around with the code. First, look for the line that says ]]></b:skin>. Insert the following code just above that line:

#navbar-iframe {height:0px;visibility:hidden;display:none}

So once that's done it should look like this:

#navbar-iframe {height:0px;visibility:hidden;display:none}
]]></b:skin>

Save your template and preview you blog and, voila! The navbar should be gone after that. If in case you'd want the navbar back, you simply remove that line we just added and it should return.

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The Relativity of Wrong

I found this wonderfully interesting article written by Isaac Asimov in 1989 for the Skeptical Inquirer aptly titled The Relativity of Wrong. It talks a great much about the theories concerning the shape of the earth: from the ancient concept of flat earth to the Greek philosophers' theory of a spherical planet to the early 20th century proposition that the earth is not mathematically spherical but an oblate spheroid until the mid-20th century discovery that our dear Mother Earth is pear-shaped.

Yet, the whole point of the essay was pointing out that not just because some old theory has been replaced by a better-accepted one meant that it was absolutely wrong, that, in fact, they are true to a certain level, and that the concept of "right" and "wrong" are not absolute.

There is no such thing as an absolute and complete "wrong" but, in the words of Asimov himself: "....in a much truer and subtler sense, they need only be considered incomplete."

Now I like that so much better than being told I'm wrong.

***

Speaking of wrong... I was - in all honesty - surprised to learn that Sarsi, after all these years thinking otherwise, is not a cola.

I realize that I might be the last person on earth to know that, but if I hadn't read my friend's blog, Sugar and Spice, I would have kept on believing that Sarsi was just another cola like Coke or Pepsi.

When my friend referred to Sarsi as a root beer, I quickly googled it - just to be sure. I had to know. After all, years of belief, of childhood memories, and certainty of what I know might crumble because of that one fact...

And it did! Alas! I was proven wrong. Sarsi - I could never look at this drink the same way again after this - is a root beer: a type of soda also known as sarsaparilla (from the Spanish zarzaparilla, literally little grapevine bush).

Upon reading the term "sarsaparilla", I knew I was wrong. Now my certainty in all things I believe in has crumbled... thanks to Sarsi.

***

Oh well, I guess that's okay. After all, nothing is ever wrong. They're just incomplete.

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A First Christmas Album for Sarah Brightman

I must say it's quite exciting to hear that Sarah Brightman has released her very first Christmas Album. Although it takes it's name from her highest chart debuting album "Symphony" which was released early this year, this Holiday CD dubbed "A Winter Symphony" is not really an extension of the blockbuster former album. As with most of Sarah's previous albums, this one banks on almost-excessive productions featuring symphony orchestras, session players, and a multitude of choirs. It may seem overproduced but therein lies the charm of Brightman's albums as these productions show her originality and her virtuosity in song styling.

The album includes several season favorites like Silent Night, In the Bleak Midwinter, and Child in a Manger. Of course, there's the usual selection of Classical pieces including her third rendition of Ave Maria - this time sung with Fernando Lima (there's also a Charles Gounod Version of Ave Maria in the album); a new classical piece, Carpe Diem, is a duet with Mario Frangoulis; and there's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", a transcription by Pianist Myra Hess of the chorale that ends each part of Bach's cantata Herz und Mund Tat und Leben.

There are also a number of contemporary Pop tunes. A cover version of Abba's originally-instrumental song, Arrival, opens the album. Another cover song is "Colder than Winter", a 1984 song by Vince Gill - this might be the first cover of this song, ever (but then i might be wrong about that). There's also a slightly over-indulged reading of Neil Diamond's 1975 hit "I've Been this Way Before". I particularly like Brightman's rendition of the traditional song "Amazing Grace" - not sure if it's a Christmas song, though i think it'll pass as one.

In all it's grandeur, though, this set does not project any particular feeling, contemplative, nor inspiring. It's definitely not a jolly Christmas album, but it's not very expressive either. Still, it's a good audio experience just hearing the crystalline voice of Sarah Brightman accompanied by great production.

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Elegance and Effeciency: Google Chrome

This is not an in-depth review of the browser, nor will it be a head-to-head comparison with any browsers in the market, but comparing it to other browsers can't be helped, of course.

Interface

The first thing I noticed in Google Chrome's interface is that it didn't have a title bar. In it's place is the primary element of the browser: the tabs. It's remarkably minimal design includes no full-scale menu bar; the simple controls can all be found in two icons to the right of the address bar - which, by the way, also functions as the search bar. It's a clutter-free interface, no unnecessary and distracting elements that take up your screen space.

Performance

Google Chrome was designed to improve on the way other browsers handle JavaScript, one of the technologies used to make Web pages more interactive and more like desktop software applications. This focus makes sense because JavaScript can eat up computer processor power, and if poorly used by a Web site, can bring down the browser. However, this focus on JavaScript misses the point on better browser performance.

When browsers slow down, this is usually attributed to JavaScript hogging up system resources. Yet JavaScript is not the real culprit but another technology used to make Web pages more interactive: Adobe's Flash plug-in. It's the program-within-a-program that plays YouTube videos and those annoying "splash" pages that some sites employ to dazzle you with animations before letting you do anything useful on the site.

The Flash plug-in uses tremendous amounts of computing power. It eats up processor time to the point where nothing is left for other programs and does this even without you doing anything. Simply having a page with embedded objects played by Flash open will hog power from your system's CPU.

This is a problem, not just with Chrome, but with all browsers. Luckily, there are plug-ins for the other browsers that allow you to prevent Flash files from automatically running on page load. This is what Chrome lacks. It's controls are quite basic and they don't allow much customization either.

On the other hand, Chrome allows you to diagnose problems with rogue plug-ins easily. It features its own task manager that tells you what pages are using up which resources and allow you to get rid of that particular resource-hogger without closing the whole browser.

I noticed that Chrome may sometimes be a bit unstable - understandable as it's still a beta. Browsing through the history, for some reason, may sometimes cause the program to crash; and when Chrome crashes it doesn't allow you to restore your previous session unlike other browsers.

Features

Chrome includes a number of features that appear in other browsers, like a private browsing mode called Incognito, tools for Web developers to view and troubleshoot source code, and the ability to restore all tabs from a previous session. I've already mentioned that Chrome allows tab isolation where you can shut down a trouble-making tab without taking down the whole browser. Internet Explorer 8 also offers this feature but Chrome takes a notch further by adding its own task manager. Unfortunately, this needs manual configuration.

Another bright feature from Chrome is the download box at the bottom of the screen. It lets you access your downloaded files and put them where you want them to be. The download progress can be seen from this box so no more separate window for downloads which makes tracking easier. You may also view all the downloads on a separate tabs; again, conveniently no separate window for downloads.

However, there are a couple of features that Chrome lacks. Bookmark management is not as easy and the browser does not offer any way to email links. This is probably because it's still a beta, but it would have been nice to see these features early in the browser's development.

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Opera... you should try it!

I just had to post this and let everyone know how great this browser is.

It's an all-in-one solution: tabbed browser, email client, bit-torrent manager, feed reader, and so many other things in one package. It's even got its own fraud and malware protection built in.

Here are some of the features particularly like:

Speed Dial: You can set up to 9 of your most frequently visited sites for easier, quicker access whenever you open a new tab in Opera. These "visual bookmarks" are much more convenient than having to type in the url everytime you wish to visit your favorite sites. Plus, they give you a preview of the most recent state of the site.

Mouse Gestures: This is my most-beloved feature in Opera. You won't find this in any other browser.Common actions like moving forward, backward, or openning a new tab is accomplished by simply moving your mouse. Wonderful!

Tabs and Sessions: I have been a fan of tab browsing ever since it came to being. It's convenient - you get different sites without having to open new windows chich clog your task bar. Opera gives you not only tabbed browsing but tab management. You can drag-and-drop tabs to rearrange them or place your mouse over a tab to preview the site. The best thing about this is that Opera lets you save a session of tabs that you can load later. Isn't that just amazing?

These are just some of the great features of this browser. One blog entry won't cover all the good stuff.

Really! The best way to discover Opera is to try it.

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The Cosmic Flare - Moonshine - Aurora Effect

Just a new design I'm working on...

I'm still playing around with different effects; don't have a definite plan on how the page's supposed to look like as yet.

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