ajft

It's a mess. There's no escaping it. I hate to think how many hundred pages exist in here, and they're nearly all hand-crafted (or maybe hand-crufted) in some way. I don't want to use a CMS, I'd much prefer a structure full of documents and Makefiles and then automate the whole. On the other hand, I've never actually managed to get it to work, always too easy to just keep doing one manual bodge after another.

Two commments last night at dinner really brought it home though, one person asked me whether I still put the photos that I took here in my own photo album, since they found it so hard to find them. The other one asked what on earth FOAF was, since when they'd done a google search on their own name, the top entry was something part-way through my FoaF file. It is time to perform some tidy-up work. Time to write out a list of requirements and fix those things that always seem to wait for la mañana.

OK, I want:

• a lot more commonality in my code!
• no broken links
• validated XHTML markup
• photo searches by when or where they were taken, by collection, by who or what is depicted

So far I've used the following cameras (reverse chronological order):

Canon Digital IXUS 700

A combination of the slow speed of the IXUS 300, and the loss of its zoom buttons due to a bicycle crash had me thinking of a new camera. This was compounded by a severe case of camera envy when my uncle visited with a 700. Smaller, much faster, lighter and probably a bit more expensive. Again I've enjoyed the latest IXUS, but unfortunately a jammed lens mechanism and the service I've got from Canon Australia have left a bad taste and I'll be wary of the brand from now on.

Canon Digital IXUS 300

A combination of the cost of running the Elph, but the love of its size, resulted in me purchasing this digital camera. The IXUS 300 is a few millimetres thicker than the Elph, but just manages to squeeze into the carry case and will fit inside a pocket. Now I've got no excuse for the quality of the photo scans, its all up to the skill of the photographer.

Canon Elph

I love it, at last a camera that's small enough that I actually carry it around! Despite the lies of the salesman, the APS film is expensive (about $10 a roll of 25), as is the processing (about 50c per print). If I can get access to an APS film scanner I could get much better quality scans, until then I'm relying on the photo scanner at work.

Assorted Disposable 35mm

For the use I make of them, these are nearly ideal. They're cheap, take reasonable photos, and I don't have to worry about accidently destroying the camera by taking it swimming or camping.

35mm Compact

Not small enough, so it spent most of it's life sitting at home on the bookshelf. Eventually I had it with me when I crashed my mountain bike into a river, it wasn't waterproof and so it died.

Fujica SLR

Probably a cheap SLR, I can't remember. I bought it when I was 16 and going overseas. It lasted about 10 years and then stopped cocking the shutter. When I tried to get it fixed I was quoted more money to just examine it than I'd paid to buy it!