Just finished with a client’s website www.wildwoodcampsites.com, I am pretty happy with it and so are they.

Few things that where fun was implementing a "Get Directions," Map with Microsoft Virtual Earth and a Silverlight picture viewer. I have worked with the Google maps api in the past it wasn't bad, but I hate the registration it makes it a pain to move and reuse. I found virtual Earth API far superior with great examples. I was able to get something cool up and working with little Java Script experience. The picture viewer I did not code from scratch, dnntemplet.com was offering it for free as a Beta version; although it didn't work I was able to fix it by digging around in the source code. I am really excited to see what the web will look like coming up with Flex.org and Silverlight 2.0

I have been looking for a good universal or system wide spell check for a long time I finally gave up and coded one for my self. I really like my spell check its simple and its fast. Basically it takes two key strokes to use, one to copy the text, two to launch the spell checker with a global assigned hot key. After you have corrected the spelling you paste it back. That is it, simple and fast. Do me a favor anyone that reads this blog compare what I threw together to some of the others. If enough people use/like my spell check I could add some new features like an auto-update and optimizing its memory usage.

My Spell check
Dyslexic Helper - System Wide Spell check.

Others

Enso Words 39.95 - This one takes way to many key strokes and seems too intrusive on what you are doing. I didn't want something to take up my whole screen and all of my attention. It is however very clever program and well done.

GlobalSpellChecker (freeware) - I like it, its free, and it contains a dictionary(very cool). But it uses the Microsoft Word spell checker and you have to leave the keyboard and actually access the program with your mouse, I guess you could combine it with slickrun to make this faster. It also looks like it only does one word per call to GLobalSpellCheck.

Spell Check Anywhere $29.97 - It seems to be the same as what I have done but you have to pay for it.

I found out that editing Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for my blog as well as other projects can be really annoying, mostly when you are playing colors and font. I find my self constantly editing one number in a color hex set, saving the CSS file, hitting CTRL + F5, and then waiting for browser to refresh. My solution for this was a quick windows app I put together to help me coordinate my colors and font.

This app is very simple, to use it all you have to do is either enter the hex values or click on the buttons next to them choose the proper color or text from the dialog. You can also use dialogs to convert RGB to hex or hex to RGB.

Feel free to downlaod and use this application as much as you like.
DOWNLOAD
StyleHelper.exe (64 KB)
If you would like to see how it works or add more to it you can download the source.
StyleHelper.zip (110.3 KB)

Dyslexic Helper is a spell check that can be used anywhere in windows.

I have a bit of a problem spelling due to my dyslexia, to help me with this I wrote an application that spell checks copied text. This application can be run anywhere in windows by a combination of keys or the application menu, accessed via the system tray. Feel free to use this application as much as you like. If you want to show your appreciation you can donate few dollars to help me continue my education.

To use this application just follow the steps below.

1. Download Dyslexic Helper 
2. Unzip the File named DyslexicHelper.zip
3. Once unzipped open the newly created folder and run the setup.exe
4. This setup will install the necessary files to run Dyslexic Helper. Dyslexic helper will also place a shortcut file in your programs folder and another in the startup folder.
5. Once the application is installed run it start>All Programs>Dyslexic Helper.

6. Now that Dyslexic Helper is running, to use it you just need to highlight any text in windows copy it and hit the Windows key + F7. This hot key combination can be changed through options in the menu.

7. Finally correct your spelling and paste it where you need it.

This application is written by me using VB.Net as well as C# and the entire source is availble here, if you would like to see how it works. The spell check control I used is called NetSpell. I have changed this control a little bit but mostly just for looks. The system wide hot key control I found at The Code Project I modified it a little so I could change the hotkey at runtime and return the current selected hotkey as a text value.