About Me

PBX My name is Paul Bissex, and e-scribe.com is my consulting business. I build web applications using as much open source software as possible. From September to June I teach web design and other important non-photographic professional skills to photographers. In the '90s I wrote technology commentary and reviews for magazines, newspapers, and web publications, including Wired, Salon.com, FamilyPC, the late lamented Web Review, and the Chicago Tribune. Feel free to email me.

Colophon

This runs on Django, served by Apache and mod_python. The database is SQLite. The operating system is FreeBSD, on a VPS hosted at Johncompanies.com. Comment-spam protection by Akismet. Vintage topo imagery from the Maptech archive. The markup engine is Markdown.

The Book

Book cover I'm co-author of "Python Web Development with Django", an excellent guide to my favorite web framework. Published by Addison-Wesley in October 2008, it is available from Amazon and your favorite technical bookstore as well. Click on the book title above to learn more.

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Stuff I Use

Akismet, del.icio.us, Django, dpaste.com, Emacs, FreeBSD, Freenode, jQuery, LaunchBar, MacPorts, Markdown, Mercurial, OS X, Postfix, Python, SQLite, Subversion, TextMate, Trac, Ubuntu Linux, wmii

Spam Report

At least 45538 pieces of comment spam killed since January 12th, mostly via Akismet.

Color names in JSON format

I'm an inveterate side-project starter. I spent some time tonight deleting old web projects from the server, and it felt great. I did come across a couple things I wanted to save or pass on though; one of them was this quaint list of named web colors (the "Netscape color names").

I still use these in my web classes when I first introduce the idea of colors in HTML, because it's a lot more fun for students to type in "lemonchiffon" and see the result than it is for them to learn hexadecimal.

Presented in handy JSON/Python-dict format.

{'aliceblue': 'F0F8FF', 'antiquewhite': 'FAEBD7', 'aquamarine': '7FFFD4', 'azure': 'F0FFFF', 'beige': 'F5F5DC', 'bisque': 'FFE4C4', 'black': '000000', 'blanchedalmond': 'FFEBCD', 'blue': '0000FF', 'blueviolet': '8A2BE2', 'brown': 'A52A2A', 'burlywood': 'DEB887', 'cadetblue': '5F9EA0', 'chartreuse': '7FFF00', 'chocolate': 'D2691E', 'coral': 'FF7F50', 'cornflowerblue': '6495ED', 'cornsilk': 'FFF8DC', 'cyan': '00FFFF', 'darkgoldenrod': 'B8860B', 'darkgreen': '006400', 'darkkhaki': 'BDB76B', 'darkolivegreen': '556B2F', 'darkorange': 'FF8C00', 'darkorchid': '9932CC', 'darksalmon': 'E9967A', 'darkseagreen': '8FBC8F', 'darkslateblue': '483D8B', 'darkslategray': '2F4F4F', 'darkturquoise': '00CED1', 'darkviolet': '9400D3', 'deeppink': 'FF1493', 'deepskyblue': '00BFFF', 'dimgray': '696969', 'dodgerblue': '1E90FF', 'firebrick': 'B22222', 'floralwhite': 'FFFAF0', 'forestgreen': '228B22', 'gainsboro': 'DCDCDC', 'ghostwhite': 'F8F8FF', 'gold': 'FFD700', 'goldenrod': 'DAA520', 'gray': '808080', 'green': '008000', 'greenyellow': 'ADFF2F', 'honeydew': 'F0FFF0', 'hotpink': 'FF69B4', 'indianred': 'CD5C5C', 'ivory': 'FFFFF0', 'khaki': 'F0E68C', 'lavender': 'E6E6FA', 'lavenderblush': 'FFF0F5', 'lawngreen': '7CFC00', 'lemonchiffon': 'FFFACD', 'lightblue': 'ADD8E6', 'lightcoral': 'F08080', 'lightcyan': 'E0FFFF', 'lightgoldenrod': 'EEDD82', 'lightgoldenrodyellow': 'FAFAD2', 'lightgray': 'D3D3D3', 'lightpink': 'FFB6C1', 'lightsalmon': 'FFA07A', 'lightseagreen': '20B2AA', 'lightskyblue': '87CEFA', 'lightslate': '8470FF', 'lightslategray': '778899', 'lightsteelblue': 'B0C4DE', 'lightyellow': 'FFFFE0', 'limegreen': '32CD32', 'linen': 'FAF0E6', 'magenta': 'FF00FF', 'maroon': 'B03060', 'mediumaquamarine': '66CDAA', 'mediumblue': '0000CD', 'mediumorchid': 'BA55D3', 'mediumpurple': '9370DB', 'mediumseagreen': '3CB371', 'mediumslateblue': '7B68EE', 'mediumspringgreen': '00FA9A', 'mediumturquoise': '48D1CC', 'mediumviolet': 'C71585', 'midnightblue': '191970', 'mintcream': 'F5FFFA', 'mistyrose': 'FFE4E1', 'moccasin': 'FFE4B5', 'navajowhite': 'FFDEAD', 'navy': '000080', 'oldlace': 'FDF5E6', 'olivedrab': '6B8E23', 'orange': 'FFA500', 'orangered': 'FF4500', 'orchid': 'DA70D6', 'palegoldenrod': 'EEE8AA', 'palegreen': '98FB98', 'paleturquoise': 'AFEEEE', 'palevioletred': 'DB7093', 'papayawhip': 'FFEFD5', 'peachpuff': 'FFDAB9', 'peru': 'CD853F', 'pink': 'FFC0CB', 'plum': 'DDA0DD', 'powderblue': 'B0E0E6', 'purple': 'A020F0', 'red': 'FF0000', 'rosybrown': 'BC8F8F', 'royalblue': '4169E1', 'saddlebrown': '8B4513', 'salmon': 'FA8072', 'sandybrown': 'F4A460', 'seagreen': '2E8B57', 'seashell': 'FFF5EE', 'sienna': 'A0522D', 'skyblue': '87CEEB', 'slateblue': '6A5ACD', 'slategray': '708090', 'snow': 'FFFAFA', 'springgreen': '00FF7F', 'steelblue': '4682B4', 'tan': 'D2B48C', 'thistle': 'D8BFD8', 'tomato': 'FF6347', 'turquoise': '40E0D0', 'violet': 'EE82EE', 'violetred': 'D02090', 'wheat': 'F5DEB3', 'white': 'FFFFFF', 'whitesmoke': 'F5F5F5', 'yellow': 'FFFF00', 'yellowgreen': '9ACD32'}

Sunday, May 6th, 2007
design + web development