iMatt :: The Blog of Matt Clare

Congratualtions on the victory!

It took almost a full year to mount your challenge for the the number one spot, but you finally achieved it this week. Many asked if you were too young for this role, many asked if the world was not ready to give the number one spot to a black man, but you proved them wrong.

Your determination and willingness to fight right to the very end demonstrated your innate skill; skill that was evident from when you first appeared on the scene a few years ago. The only thing that is regrettable is that your victory means that your chief opponent, who was very deserving himself, is denied the victory that he too had worked so hard for.

This is why I send my most sincere congratulations to you, Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 Formula 1 Champion!

Thanks for the imagepaulwoolrich

Based on the election coverage I’ve identified five technologies that are needed to cover a Canadian election (apparently) – from highest cost to lowest.

1. On-Screen numbers and graphs — WITH fancy transitions!
2. Seat projection software – this is generally in second place, but CTV want’s you to know that they’re first
3. Eyeglasses – for people you thought didn’t need them
4. A Smart Board
5. A Twitter account – and of course a so-last-election special E-Mail address

Sorry Stéphane Dion – I think you had some great policies and had some great ideas for Canada. But how one projects their leadership counts for a lot. One can lament that state of affairs, but at the same time a whole party, caucus or cabinet can bring forward policy, but there is only one part leader.

Stéphane was able to bring a lot of good ideas forward but often at the same time, in the same sentence. He also brought a surprising amount syllables to English Canadians. One of his best decisions was to form a pact with Elizabeth May because at least there was someone to explain the Green Shift.

The Liberals apparently still need to complete their re-invention, and in the end the election was probably a necessary step.

Canadians are left with the same mean-spirited, close-minded, and needlessly-combative government that promised to takeover and bring integrity to Ottawa and has so far done anything but. It’s small comfort that it will only be a Conservative Minority.

A few of asked, so here’s my answer to the question: “What should I use to create a web site that myself and others can edit?” Here’s my answers to a few particular situations.

Desktop editing: Contribute

If you want a static site that can be modified from someone’s desktop I’d recommend Adobe’s Dreamweaver and Contribute combination. You make the site with Dreamweaver and setup some access rules with Dreamweaver’s template system and (after testing) others can edit the web site with their own copy of Contribute (as described by Adobe). This is really designed for static web sites, not dynamic ones. The good thing about static sites is even though they’re less interactive they handle a high level of load and many developers who want a lot of control over the site but don’t quite get the basics of database-driven sites this can be a good option.

A news site with only a few static pages and lots of updates maintained via the web: WordPress

I’d recommend WordPress. WordPress is blog software and is very purposefully designed for adding content via the web from one or more authors. As a blogging tool it focuses on a flow of content reverse chronologically flowing from the front page on and as a blogging tool it facilitates things like comments and syndication. WordPress requires a MySQL database (and an account and password for that database) and a web server that can run PHP. The best part, it’s completely free.

Some WordPress sites:

• My Blog
• Things Are Good.com
• CNN’s Politics blog
• Ford’s Autoshow web site
• icanhascheezburger.com – LOL Cat central
• Google Site Seeing
• More listed at: http://www.poweredbywp.com/

Wordpress supports custom themes, some of which can be found at places like (and then extended etc.)

• http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
• http://www.dailywp.com/

Any other web site maintained via the web: Drupal

Drupal assumes little about your content and provides a great framework for development and as such has a great collection of modules contributed through the community. Drupal won over PHP developers a few years ago and recently has improved its interface for content creators and offers more “out of the box”. The time between installation and deployment often isn’t as short as it is with WordPress, but that’s largely because you’re building a web site that’s intended to do more. Most sites can be created with the latest copy of Drupal, a MySQL database (and an account and password for that database) and a web server that can run PHP and a few key modules like Views and the Content Construction Kit . The best part, it’s completely free.

Some Drupal sites:

• Clurko.com – our wedding web site
• RimCount.com – track your Tim Horton’s rims
• Recovery.Gov
• The Onion: America’s finest news source
• Canadian Communication Association
• Sony/BMG’s Music box artist web sites
• 43folders.com
• TWiT Podcasting Network

Drupal supports custom themes, some of which can be found at places like (and then extended etc.)

• http://drupal.org/project/Themes
• http://alldrupalthemes.com/
• http://themegarden.org/

A few other situations might warrant a more Wiki-style web site, which Google sites supports (with your own URL and everything).

…and for the record, things to stay away from: MS Frontpage and Apple iWeb

Rick Mercer was recently at Brock University to help spread the word on the Spread the Net campaign. The goal of the campaign is to have Canadians buy simple Mosquito nets at $10 each that will be given to children in Liberia and Rwanda to give them a place to sleep protected from mosquitos and the threat of Malaria.

Everyone at Brock University would love it if you could make a donation at: http://my.e2rm.com/TeamPage.aspx?EventID=15008&LangPref=en-CA&TeamID=84330

Its simple way to make a big impact and save lives.