I’ve been using this little snippet quite often for our Rails applications, so I thought I’d share it. It uses minimal code to output the flash[:notice] and flash[:error] messages in colors correlating to their purpose and then fades them away.

Here’s the CSS used followed by the Erb code I use in my layout:

Found this slick little app for validations, Validator S.A.C. I generally would use the one built into FireFox’s Web Developer toolbar or FireBug, but they don’t work for websites running locally. To validate local sites, I would have to go to W3C’s validation website and copy n’ paste my local code. Now I can open this little app with a quick Spotlight keystoke and drag n’ drop files directly on it to validate. They can even be dragged directly from my TextMate sidebar. Cheers to Chuck Houpt!

We’re once again hiring at Barefoot. If you or someone you know is a black belt Rails developer, then please drop us a line.

Barefoot has an immediate opening for a Senior Web Application Developer. We’d like you to have 5 years experience developing database-driven, dynamic web sites. We’re strong in a number of technologies, the primary ones being Ruby on Rails, PHP and .NET. You need to be very strong in Rails, and if you’ve got substantial experience in a second language, bonus points. You’ll need to be able to point us to multiple Rails sites in production. Strong SQL application development experience is also a must. You’ve also got to be at least comfortable with client-side Web development (JavaScript, CSS, XHTML), although that won’t be the main part of your job. You’ll receive excellent benefits and a salary commensurate with your experience. To apply, send your resume, and URLs to recruiting@thinkbarefoot.com.

Emil Stenström recently wrote about his experiences with Microsoft Sharepoint 2007 (MOSS) entitled, Sharepoint 2007 from an interface developer’s view. This is a task that I am currently undertaking at work, and I couldn’t agree more with his point of view that if you really want a CMS with a custom UI, then you should avoid Sharepoint if at all possible.

I order to progress within this project, I have been forced to revert to the HTML methodologies of yore (table-based layouts in particular), and to write messy code that I am not proud to call my own. I have however manged to produce a somewhat clean Masterpage, and have been able to keep the majority of the presentation coding within the CSS files. Working on this intranet site however, does make me VERY appreciative that the majority of the projects that I’m working on these days are built in Rails.

Today I am very excited to show off our most recent site launch here at Barefoot. The Know Theatre is one of Barefoot’s 2007 grant recipients and a large portion of their grant campaign was invested into building a brand new website. In addition to the website, our team designed and developed 6 print ads (featured in City Beat), 4 print guerrilla executions, 3 bumper stickers, and an external theatre sign.

In addition to being a beautifully designed site, it is probably the most technically progressive site that I have had the pleasure of working on to date. Built with Ruby on Rails; we managed to throw in everything plus the kitchen sink. The site features a fully custom CMS, RSS news feed, flickr photo feed, iCal event feed, some Microformat love, and AJAX out the wazoo! Also be sure to check out the nifty animated GIF rollover effects on the main navigation.