Remember back in 1999 when the Internet still had a shine of youth, a time when Web sites still used texture-based background images and the <layer> tag still had meaning? When Web sites looked like this?

For the youngsters in the audience, when an organization would purchase a domain name, they would plaster a big “UNDER CONSTRUCTION” or “COMING SOON” page to announce and reassure that something relevant would one day appear. Well, retro guy that I am, I’ve done the same thing.

If you head over to excuse911.com, you’ll see the coming soon page for the borax.js-powered Web site that I’ve decided to use for real-world testing the library.

But, I put up the “COMING SOON” page so that I can exert some internal pressure to get the work done to actually complete it. Working in a relative vacuum has shown me that, left to my own devices, I’d rather participate in less productive past times. So, internal pressure, build!

I still feel passionately about borax.js and what it represents. I think that, given a reasonable structure in which to understand REST, that most developers would enjoy the real power that REST-in-the-browser can give to them. At least, the way that I see it. And, in the absence of something standards-like, the definition of REST encompasses so much more than originally intended.

So, onward and onward. And, don’t forget, when you need an excuse in a clinch, you can always turn to excuse911.com.

I have one more document to write for my current client. Because of that, I really just don’t have time to write, today, in this blog. Not only that, but I don’t really have anything interesting to write. Except this thing I found with knockout.js.

It seems that knockout.js on IE8 strips any trailing white space between a data-bound tag and further text. For example, given the markup:

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<div>
  My humorous substitution <span data-bind="text: verb27"></span> away with
  a <span data-bind="text: noun11"></span>.
</div>

renders as the following in IE8.

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<div>
  My humorous substitution <span data-bind="text: verb27">ran</span>away with
  a <span data-bind="text: noun11">spoon</span>.
</div>

And you can see the trailing whitespace of the first span, the space between the end tag and the word “away,” disappears. I haven’t had time to hunt down the bug or even report it.

Maybe this weekend.

Yeah, I’ve been consulting. I’m not a successful Web 2.0 company owner that sold his latest company. I’m not someone that got in on Apple at $50. Instead, I’m the guy that likes building software, has done it for a while for a variety of companies, and has struck off on his own to try to fulfill a dream of entrepreneurship.

So, to keep the money flowing, I’ve taken a consulting gig.

Man, has it drained me.