September 2005

What a few weeks it’s been.

So much to do and so little time. IPB 2.1.0 has been released, followed by a little update to fix those firsts day blues. IPD is coming along nicely and our new products have just been announced - not to mention that I’m putting together some developer’s documentation.

I’ll be back to my usual blogging activities in a few weeks. Promise.

I blogged previously about my new UI javascript classes; “Drag ‘n Drop Move” and “Click and hold edit” which allows one to drag and drop a folder or file over another file to move it and to click and hold a file or folder title to trigger the in-line edit features. Adding this functionality to new HTML areas is as simple as adding the correct IDs to various A, IMG and DIV objects.

Today, I spent a little time re-vamping the templates layout screen. IPD has three main types of templates: “Content Templates” are templates that one uses with pages and content blocks, “System Templates” are templates IPD uses for searching, logging in, member control panel, etc and “Email Templates” are so cleverly titled an explanation shouldn’t be needed.

The content templates area now has three main groups:
“Custom Templates” are templates that the site owner creates to make his or her or their (ok, enough) site.
“Global Templates” are templates that are used on every page (unless asked otherwise). The page header and page footer are applied to every single page automatically (unlike previous versions) unless specifically stated.
“IPD Generated Templates” are templates that IPD generates internally. Some components generate template bits that cannot be deleted, renamed or edited or else!

As these new folders are pre-set and undeletable / uneditable - and the files in “Global Templates” and “IPD Generated Templates” are undeletable and cannot be renamed, I needed to find a way to prevent individual files from being moveable (via drag ‘n drop) and uneditable (via in-line edit).

The result is shown in the movie below. Yes, the red alert box does punch you between the eyes and, like most things with IPD, it’ll be refined at a later date.

IPD-Templates.mov (1.1mb Quicktime .mov file)

After almost a week after picking up my PSP I feel more qualified to give some kind of a review. So here it is.

The first thing you notice is how well its engineered and built. It’s very well finished with glossy surfaces and it’s very tactile. All the buttons click nicely and the analogue thumb control is smoother than a baby’s bottom. The screen is large compared to Nintendo’s DB / Gameboy offerings. The clear shoulder buttons (R1 and L1) are finished nicely and have a smooth action.

The second thing you notice is that the unit is quite big. Those with small hands will have trouble holding it comfortably and also have immediate access to the thumb stick and the shoulder buttons. Having said that, it does fit very comfortably in your hands and you’re not too aware of the weight.

It’s technically on-par with the PlayStation 2 in terms of graphic and music capabilities. The large screen with three backlight options is very clear and bright. Wipeout Pure, Midnight Club 3 and MediEvil all look gorgeous and it really is like having a PS2 in your hand. The sound through the headphones is excellent if not a little quiet. Sony has limited the output of the headphones to 90db which is pretty low if you’re used to blasting your iPod in your ears. If you’re in the room with the TV on, you struggle to hear your PSP clearly with headphones on. Removing the headphones it gets a little worse. The built in speakers are very quiet and tinny. I feel this is a deliberate move as the PSP is meant to be a personal device and thus we don’t want the noise from it infliced upon us when someone else is using it. I think I’ll see if I can boost the volume from the headphones with a different pair. The headphones come with a wired remote which makes the headphone cable amusingly long. Forunately one can bypass the remote and plug the headphones directly into the unit.

The UK PSP came with the “2.0.0″ software update which adds a web browser. This is based on Mozilla and is very capable. If you’re used to browsing on your mobile when out and about - you’re in for a treat. Although there is no GPRS option, the WLAN wireless does an excellent job. It picked up my Airport at home with no effort and browsing speeds are excellent. The browser allows you to add bookmarks, manage your cookies and pretty much everything else you do day to day. I regularly check in on the forums and this blog from the PSP and it’s a joy to use.

The “Desktop” is very much Mac inspired. The floating blue background is almost exactly an animated version of the original desktop image that came with OS X. The icons are large and clear and scroll smoothly when asked. The layout is logical with everything (photos, movies, music, settings, games, etc) very easy to find. You can send photos between PSPs in ad-hoc mode which doesn’t require a WLAN connection to a router or internet. On one device you simple pick a picture and select “Send” and on the other, you go into your photo section, press triangle and select “Receive”.

Game share is a novel idea although currently limited to sending demos of the game you’re playing to other devices. I can see this being used in a variety of interesting ways once the platform takes off.

The UMD format looks like it could replace DVDs eventually and I hope it does as I don’t fancy shelling out for both a DVD and UMD format when a new release is available. I bet that this time next year we’ll be seeing home UMD players which plug up to your television.

In short, the PSP is sexy, well engineered and as powerful as your PS2. Buy one. Or two - just don’t expect many games. There are only about a dozen or so titles out at the moment.

I can’t wait for GTA: Libery City Stories (due October) and Brothers in Arms (due November).

So, I picked up my Sony PSP today (yes, in the UK we get things decades behind the rest of the world - today was release day) and I’m really pleased!

The build quality is superb - it really reminds one of Apple’s hardware. All glossy surfaces and neat engineering. The screen is beautiful and…

… oh, heck - screw this, I’m off to play some more.