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That was easy.

I was recently asked about the possibility of adapting the Remember Mismatched Domains extension to support Thunderbird. Well, it turned out to be a snap. All I had to do was add Thunderbird as a target application in the extension’s install manifest. How cool is that?

What is Remember Mismatched Domains?
The Remember Mismatched Domains extension for Firefox and Thunderbird adds a “Don’t warn me again about this certificate for this domain’ checkbox to the Domain Mismatch warning window. When selected the domain name and security certificate domain pair is stored in a Firefox / Thunderbird preference and the security error dialogue will be bypassed on subsequent visits.

(I explained why I wrote the extension in the original announcement).

How do I install the extension?
If you want to install the extension in Thunderbird, you have to follow these steps:
1. In your default browser, right-click on the download link. Choose the “Save link to disk…” option and download the XPI install file into a directory of your choosing.
2. Open Mozilla Thunderbird and open the ‘Extensions’ dialog by going to the ‘Tools’ -> ‘Extensions’ menu.
3. On the Extension dialog, there’s a button named ‘Install’ in the lower left corner. Click on it and browse to the directory where you saved the remember-mismatch.xpi.
4. Choose the file you downloaded earlier on and click ‘OK’.

Firefox users left click on the link.

It’s a beta and could use some testing in different environments. The comments section would be a good place to let me know of any issues.

Update (Oct. 08, 2005): version 0.6 supports both Thundebird 1.5 Beta 2 and Firefox Beta 2.

Update (Oct. 25, 2005): version 0.7 fixes an issue where certificates with names containing space characters were not being properly “remembered”. My apologies to Emmanuel’s dad for the delay ;-)

John Gossman, who is currently a developer on Microsoft’s “Sparkle” Interactive Designer, has blogged a backgrounder on how he came to work on the application.
The History of Sparkle: Year One

Apparently he was a “technical lead” on Toolbook a number of years ago. What that bodes for Sparkle is unclear ;-)

I managed to finish sanding the tape on the topside of the deck this evening. This, of course, means that my forearms are itchy.

Installing the deck ply went fairly smoothly. Once I’d cut them to shape and glued them to the frames I used whatever objects available to weigh the sheets down while the glue cured. That is how a couple of hay bales came to be the first items to sit on the deck.

Actually, they weren’t the first - I’d originally placed a couple of unopened (full) epoxy jugs near the decks edge. I only replaced them with bales after the duct tape holding one panel in place popped free sending one of the jugs tumbling. Suprisingly the plastic jug survived the 4 foot fall but the cap popped off under the pressure of the impact. Ughh. While spending the next 20 minutes soaking resin from the floor I consoled myself with that fact; imagining the mess I’d have had had the jug exploded.

Wow, what a week. Way back on Tuesday Macromedia released Studio 8 and the Flash Player 8. Then on Wednesday Microsoft announced Sparkle. Topping things off is a looming deadline at work which makes me even more grateful for the distillation folks have been providing. So here’s a collection of Sparkle reactions that I’ve found interesting.

Robert Scoble started the week off by saying that Sparkle is no Flash killer.

The Expression Suite press release is here.

Of course the Channel9 video. A 1+ hour, nearly 1 gig, .wmv of Scoble lobbing softballs at members of the Sparkle team. Freakin’ inspiring and worth the entire hour. Something cool about what they’re doing over on Channel9 - the content is genuine. No editing when software or people slip from the “script”.

Macromedia’s John Dowdell trudged through comments on Slashdot’s “Flash, meet Sparkle” article and linked to those he considered noteworthy. (Thanks JD!).

Jon Meyer, who at one time was a PM on Sparkle, has an interesting point of view. He seems to be suggesting it is the ubiquity of Ajax that is the main threat to Sparkle. He also mentions Flash a half dozen or so times and there’s some good discussion in the comments section.

Sparkle vs Flash on publish.com. Interestingly Matthew David feels that the term Flash-killer should be hyphenated. Seriously, it’s a decent read. (Tom Adams pointed this one out).

Eweek has another blurb by Matthew David on Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere (WPF/E).

Dax Pandhi thinks about programming power and predicts that “WPF/E will most probably revamp the Internet itself“.

I think Scott Barnes feels the same way. Regardless, the enthusiasm makes it worth the read.

Peter Elst looks at Sparkle from a Flash user’s perspective.

Víctor Bayón thinks about how Window’s Vista is part of the Nike-ization of the software industry. The focus shift being from the functionality of the OS to the user experience. He points out that Sparkle is how MS see that shift being made:
http://www.virart.nott.ac.uk/idue/eng/weblog/2005/09/experience-iii.html

Tinic Uro, who is an engineer on the Flash Player, was at PDC and got a look at Sparkle:
http://www.kaourantin.net/2005/09/microsoft-sparkle.html

Okay this one isn’t on topic Sparkle wise but Molly Holzschlag takes Steve Ballmer to task for declaring that Microsoft will “win the web”:
http://webstandards.org/buzz/archive/2005_09.html#a000573

The perfect platform does not make a perfect app. A platform that is capable of drawing beautiful things does not make beautiful things.

Nathan Dunlop works as a designer on Avalon (Windows Presentation Foundation) and has some insightful things to say about Sparkle.

http://www.designerslove.net/2005/09/sparkle.html

I can’t help but think he expressly used the term platform.

Version 0.4 of the Remember Mismatch Domains Extension is now available.

Changes include:
- fixes an odd focus issue where some keyboard events stopped firing after RMD had overridden a domain mismatch.
- added an options menu to view and delete stored domain name pairs via a UI. (Thanks to a suggestion from Scott Selikoff).
- added support for Deer Park Beta 1!

Read the original extension announcment here.

Direct link to the install .

update: Oops post updated to read (and link to) Deer Park Beta rather than Deer Park Alpha.

Flash Player Version 8,0,22,0 is available from the Flash Player Download Center. And a bunch of new tech notes came through the Flash Player product feed in the past 12 hours.

Nice job on keeping the installer beneath 1MB (WIN FireFox is 926K). Surely thats as much a “psychological barrier” as the $100 barrel of oil. ;-)

It’ll be interesting to see the Flash Player penetration numbers next update.

Phew. Big push this past week.

I found installing the roof beams to be very rewarding work. The frames spanning the width of the boat are made from laminations of 1/4″ ply. After test fitting the pieces I glued them together and then removed notches to fit the longitudinal frames. Once the laminations had cured I used clamps and a few temporary wood screws to hold the frames in place while they were installed in the boat.

I used some nice Quebec hard maple for the logitudinal frames. I’ve heard that maple has a tendancy to stain when wet but figured that most of it will not be directly exposed to the elements. Time will be the judge of that decision. Anyhow, once these frames were glued into the notches in the roof beams I used a planer to ensure the deck will sit flush upon the frames.

When constructing the framing for the deck hatch I thought I’d try to gain an inch or two in headroom beneath the hatch by mounting it on the level (as opposed to following the deck’s cant). This will mean that the forward end of the hatch will sit a little higher and may be a bit more exposed than it would have been. Hopefully it won’t look too out of place either.