Category Archives: Useful Links

WikiCalc

Following on from HTMLWiki, I see Dan Bricklin’s latest project is something called WikiCalc. (You may recall that Dan Bricklin was responsible for the original Visacalc spreadsheet, which helped kickstart sales of the Apple II computer many years ago.)

WikiCalc is a type of Wiki that deals with structured data which can include calculation elements – calendars, etc for example. It looks interesting!

Tiddly Wiki

Tiddly Wiki is one of the coolest little hacks I’ve seen in a while.

Essentially, a Wiki that is completely contained within a single HTML file, including edit support. This lets you edit it locally without requiring a web server etc. Very cool.

(Thanks to Matija for the reference.)

Sparklines!

Edward Tufte’s series of books on visualisation are essential reading for anyone interested in how to clearly present complex (or not so complex) data in a way that is quickly understandable.

I just stumbled upon another Tufte innovation – Sparklines. I’m not sure if he’s invented these, or is just coining the phrase, but in any case the article is well worth a read.

Traffic Flow Dynamics

For better or worse, I find the whole topic of traffic flow management strangely interesting. So, I was delighted to stumble upon William Beaty’s article describing Physics For Bored Commuters, which describes ways you can influence the stop-go nature of cars in heavy traffic, once you are aware of the underlying processes at work.

Looking forward to trying it next time I’m caught in a jam…

(And if you enjoyed that article, you’ll also enjoy this one.)

Colour perception

How does the eye perceive colour? Probably a little differently than you thought. Context is everything, as the following link shows:

http://www.echalk.co.uk/amusements/OpticalIllusions/colourPerception/colourPerception.html

This may no longer be available from September 2005, so I’ve taken the liberty of reproducing it here:

The two centre sections are exactly the same colour!

The centre section of each structure is exactly the same colour, even though one looks grey and one looks yellow. If you don’t believe me, copy the image to your favourite paint program and check out the RGB values.