Fixing a bizarre iWork problem (with the SFWordProcessing plug-in)

Earlier today, I was using Pages '09, and I attempted to open a document that I'd opened many times before, though perhaps not since upgrading to either iWork '09 or Snow Leopard. Boom. Pages crashed (that's what happens when programs "unexpectedly quit") and the error message said “Pages quit unexpectedly while using the SFWordProcessing plug-in.” Searching for the error online showed several possible causes and solutions for the crash, but it appears to be a font problem, and often seems to be connected to the version of Hoefler Text that ships with Snow Leopard. It's also not limited to Pages; other iWork programs have the same problem, as does iWeb, which is part of iLife. The document that I'd been trying to open used that font.

I verified that the problem on my machine was with the Hoefler Text font by using Font Book to disable the font, then opened the problematic document in Pages. No crash, though of course the text that was in Hoefler Text now appeared in a different font. Turning the font back on in Font Book made the problem reappear.

Some people suggested that the solution was to replace the version of Hoefler Text that ships with Snow Leopard with a version that shipped with a previous version of Mac OS X, and they provided such versions for download. I didn't want to do that if I didn't have to, so I did some more digging. Here's what worked for me:

1. Restart your Mac.
2. As soon as you hear the startup sound, hold down the Shift key. This tells the Mac to do a Safe Boot. Instead of the regular startup sequence, you'll see a progress bar in the lower third of the screen. As part of the Safe Boot sequence, the Mac is doing a bunch of things (see this Apple support document for more detail), but the key here is that it is trashing the user font caches, which will be rebuilt automatically.
3. When the progress bar finishes, you'll see the Login screen (even if you usually have it turned off). Enter your password, login, and wait until you see the Mac desktop.
4. Restart again, this time normally (i.e., don't hold down the Shift key).
5. Fire up Pages (or whatever program is giving you trouble) and see if the problem has gone away. It did for me.

Why the iPad doesn't (yet) have a camera

Because the iPad is meant to be held in the hand.

The main reason for the iSight cameras on Macs or Apple monitors is to do video iChats (yes, I know about Photo Booth, which people use once, go "Huh." then forget about). If you were to try to do video chats on an iPad, held in your hand, the video would shake and move all the time. And that's a bad user experience. Apple doesn't do those. You can fix the problem some with image stabilization software, but probably not enough for a 10-minute chat using a camera forced to have a narrow field of view. And a stand would be a simple solution, but they've mostly come out of the gate positioning it as a device that allows you to do anything you want to do with it while you hold it in one or two hands.

I have no doubt that there are prototype iPads with cameras in Apple's labs. But I'm guessing they haven't licked the problem of shaky hands to their satisfaction yet. Give them a year or so.

My (current) opinions on HTML5

There's been a lot of screaming and ranting lately over the current state of HTML5—what is it, what's in it, who controls it, who will implement it, and so on. There's no shortage of good essays, and here are some places to start if you want to learn more.

However, if you want to be taken seriously as a web pundit it seems to be a requirement that you put in your own two cents, so here's mine.

If you've seen me at any web-related conferences in the last few years, you've probably seen me wearing a button like the one on the left (if you want your own, you can get them here).

I wear it because I think the state of "web standards" has been horrendously screwed up for several years; not just this year or last year, but for a good long time. I'd date my frustration as beginning with the W3C's announcement of XHTML 2, which was, imo, a solution in search of a problem. The W3C hasn't had their act together since then (did they ever?), and I don't expect that to change any time soon.

Initially, the WHATWG and their rough HTML5 spec looked promising. With representation from Apple, Mozilla, and Opera, I thought they could really accomplish something positive—if Microsoft could/would join the club. When I asked that question a few years ago, I got a very straightforward answer from MS: the WHATWG doesn't have a patent policy, and so long as that's the case, MS can't join. If you don't have the vendor with the #1 market share at the table, you're just wasting your time.

I became more hopeful when it looked like the W3C and the WHATWG might be able to work together on HTML5. But so much for that—the W3C architecture astronauts couldn't leave HTML5 untouched, and apparently the WHATWG may have drunk a little of the AA Kool-aid as well.

And now? The WHATWG have picked up their ball and gone home. They've scratched the number off of "HTML5," so it's now just HTML. No more version numbers—we're now in the "versionless" future, what ever that means. For web designers and developers (Remember them? Funny, the W3C and WHATWG don't) it means they can never again hold browser vendors to a promise to support x version of a spec. For tech writers, it means that they can never again say their book, article, tutorial, or video covers up through y version of HTML.

What's next? My crystal ball is fuzzy, but my guesses:

• Browser vendors are going to start doing whatever the hell they want. Why shouldn't they? With no way to hold them accountable, and no way to measure their compliance with a standard, it'll be just like the bad old days.
• Side note: when is the Mozilla Foundation going to realize that they're dead? Most of their income comes from Google searches by Firefox users—and now that Google's got their own browser, why keep paying? If I was a Google stockholder, I'd be interested in the answer to that question. Even non-profits need business models, and Mozilla doesn't have one.
• Book publishers are going to freak the hell out. Not right away, but when they get it, it's gonna be ugly.
• Your average web designer who just wants to know how to do something is going to go insane. Looking at the specs won't be useful, as browser makers can ignore them. Trying to find how-to's online will be a PITA, as they'll only be useful for the one moment in time that they were written.
• Life will be very good for Adobe—so long as they can update Dreamweaver often enough to keep up with the browser maker's zigging and zagging. Adobe BrowserLab will be huge.
• In the long run, a new group will arise: a web equivalent of Underwriters Laboratories. A vendor wants the seal of approval for their browser? Gotta meet this list of requirements. If you don't, fine—but after enough pain, governments and corporations will start requiring it, so it's better to get with the program early.
• Thinking about starting a group like this? My advice: don't allow browser vendors to join. Even better: don't allow W3C or WHATWG reps to join. Keep the decision making about the requirements list completely separate from the spec designers and the browser makers, or the tail will end up wagging the dog.
• That requirements list may or may not have anything to do with some version of HTML—and that's okay. Much of the interesting stuff on the web in the last decade has come from vendors, not standards writers. If it shipped, and cool stuff could be done with it, web builders pressured other vendors to implement it too. That method has been working, and that's okay.

And at the end, it all comes back to that slogan on the button—all that really matters is what actually ships and what's actually usable. There are some lovely theories in all those XHTML and HTML specs that will never see the light of day, and that makes them completely irrelevant to 99% of us.

Let's stick with figuring out how to make the stuff that does work, work for us.

Very limited time discount on my Macworld Expo MacLab

I'm doing a two-hour, hands-on session on iWork's Pages application at Macworld Expo on February 9:

Building Better Documents with Pages

Pages, part of Apple’s iWork suite, makes it easy to create great-looking documents, whether for print or electronic distribution. Because Pages is both a word processor and a page layout program, there’s a lot of hidden power and flexibility in the program. In this hands-on, beyond-the-basics lab session, you’ll learn how to create Pages documents that get your message across with clarity, strength, and excitement. By harnessing the power of Pages, along with practical layout and design tips, you’ll leave the session knowing how to build better documents with less effort.

In this session, you’ll learn:

• The best tool you can use to begin creating your documents
  
• Advanced text handling tips to add professional flair to your pages
  
• The ins and outs of creating and using paragraph and character styles to speed your document creation
  
• The best ways to structure and manage longer documents
  
• How to use Pages’ graphics tools to prepare stunning images
  
• How to adapt Pages’ page layout templates to fit your needs
  
• How to find and use third-party templates to save time and break your documents out of the pack
  
• All about using Numbers data in Pages to add terrific charts, do mail merges, and more
  

The Macworld Expo folks have set up a special promotional rate for this session; it's only $199 if you sign up by January 10. If you want to learn more about Pages, I hope to see you there!

Home, Ten Years On

Today marks a big milestone for us: we've lived in this house for 10 years. We moved in December 23, 1999 (only four months later than the builder's original promise!). Dori reminded me of the original site we did to document the move (we didn't call it a "blog," as the term hadn't been invented yet).

Since then, we've grown to appreciate what a special community this is. We love living in Healdsburg, in the middle of the Sonoma wine country. We've had some great experiences here and made some great friends along the way.

Aerial image courtesy of Bing maps

This is the first house I'd ever bought, though Dori had owned before. We've been through some minor (though they didn't seem that way at the time!) remodels, and I'm happy to say that we like this house more now than when we bought it.

Friday will be our eleventh Christmas here, and we're looking forward to many happy years after that.

Excellent Thanksgiving dinner, good wines

Last night, we had Thanksgiving dinner with friends here in Healdsburg. We were tasked to bring the wine, and I'm pretty pleased with the selection of local wines. I'd recommend them all. I'm doing this post as a record of the wines.

To accompany the yummy appetizers, made by our friends Marc and Stormy (a peanut curried chicken in crispy cups and a cheese mixture around asparagus hearts), we opened a Toad Hollow 2007 "Eye of the Toad" Pinot Noir Rosé. Light, but very tasty.

For the white wine drinkers, there was a Hawley Vineyards 2006 Viognier. I tasted this after the meal, because I'd been drinking the reds, and it was really good.

With the turkey and the rest of the main meal, we opened the 2007 La Crema Anderson Valley Pinot Noir. I pretty much love everything La Crema makes, and this was no exception.

Finally, with dessert, there was the 2005 Paradise Ridge "Ode To Joy" (review) Late Harvest Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc dessert wine, in the 375 ml bottle. We got this because we are wine club members at this winery, as I recall. It seems to be difficult to get except at the winery. It was very good. Tasted like honey in the glass. I'm happy that we still have a bottle of the 2007 here!

Thanks to our friends David and Care Morgenstern for hosting and providing the dinner and a fine evening.

Happy Birthday To Us!

Somehow, this blog's tenth birthday snuck up on us—and yes, this blog really is ten years old. In Internet years, that makes it what, 70? Which, I guess answers the question as to why events sneak up on us, and we can just chalk it all up to incipient senility.

I could say lots of things about the last decade: where we started, where we've traveled, or where we are now. Or about how this blog has evolved into something other than my initial expectations. Or about how blogs themselves have changed overall. Or about the number of wonderful people we've met due to having blogging in common.

But the one thing I find I must say is, whether you've been reading this blog for one month, one year, or the entire decade: thank you for reading this.

And now, back into my hole I go…

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