Lance PollardPostsProjectsResumeTwitterCodeTurning Data into Ruby and JavaScriptThe Missing Rails Key-Value GemMapping out how to build a Rails Configuration gem to handle all the cases you'll ever need.Posted on8/30/2010Tagged withRuby on Rails•Key Value•I18n•Ruby Gems•RubyjQuery Disqus PluginDisqus is a great plug-n-chug commenting system, but it's lacking a few very useful features: Markdown support, syntax highlighting the comments, and callbacks to tell you when a comment has been added or edited.  And getting the comment/reaction count for the current page or linked posts is overly complicated and/or not-well-documented.  This plugin hopefully simplifies the Disqus installation process while adding several helpful features.Posted on8/29/2010Tagged withjQuery•JavaScript•DisqusjQuery Picasa PluginA simple jQuery plugin to get albums and images from Picasa without the need for PHP, Ruby, or any other server side language.  Makes it easy to create a simple, dynamic, free, client-side-only image gallery.Posted on8/23/2010Tagged withJavaScript•jQuery•PicasaHow to Run Background Jobs on Heroku for FreeDelayed::Job and Resque are excellent ruby gems, but they require substantial funds and/or time to setup on Heroku or Slicehost.  High cost/effort prevents bootstrapped startups from building apps that need background processing, like aggregators.  So I've hacked together a template Sinatra app that uses GAE to give you free Cron and Task-Queue functionality on Heroku.Posted on8/26/2010Tagged withHeroku•GAE•Cron•Delayed Job•Queue•Ruby•Ruby on RailsAdvanced Rails MetaProgramming with InstanceEvalThe instance_eval method is probably the coolest thing about ruby.  Good use of instance_eval is what makes a framework a good framework in my opinion.  Learn how to use it for your next gem.Posted on8/19/2010Tagged withRuby•Meta-Programming•OAuth•DSLConvention over ConfigurationRuby and Rails were both Disruptive Innovations, in part by adhering to Convention over Configuration.  Rubygems were like that too.  But we're starting to follow Java's footsteps.  Rubygems are becoming too configurable.  This dramatically increases the barrier to entry and slows down innovation.  Here are some ways to kill that barrier.Posted on8/18/2010Tagged withRuby•Ruby Gems•Convention Over Configuration•Best Practices•OAuth•OpenIDComplete List of HTML Meta TagsSometimes you just want to make your page as SEO'ed as possible but can't find or remember all the meta tags.  This is a complete and up-to-date list with all the meta tags and link tags I've found on the internet over the years.  If you have others, let me know.Posted on8/18/2010Tagged withMeta Tags•HTML•SEOHow to Build an HTML5 LayoutThere is not much information out there yet describing how to create a fully-featured layout using the entire set of new HTML5 tags.  This post shows how to structure a ric