Inspired by the work of many people (see Fluid grids for example), I created a liquid 13-column symmetrical grid. By combining the columns into supercolumns, I aligned the elements to the grid structure, as illustrated in the screenshot below.

A few words about Internet Explorer 6: I simply couldn’t be bothered anymore to make this site work on dead browsers (I do enough of that hacking at work). Instead, I used Malarkey’s Universal IE6 CSS because not all browsers need to see the same design. Die IE6, die!

This is a work in progress so I’m still finalising the details and color scheme. There shouldn’t be any other big issues as far as I can see.

The previous design (v3)

The previous version of this site was online from February 2007 until November 2009. See screenshot below.

Spotify

Spotify music streaming service was launched. This is clearly a major step forward for online music distribution. I hope more and more record companies will join the service — actually, these companies have no choice but to adapt to the new business model in order to survive. Spotify is currently invite-only, with free accounts available only in some European countries (currently UK, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Spain and France). Spotify Premium (not free) is available in many more countries, including Belgium. You can have your charts sent to last.fm. too.

Web stuff

Foxmarks Firefox add-on that syncs and backs up your bookmarks and passwords across multiple computers. I can now access all my bookmarks and add new ones from any computer. It’s perfect, just what I need.

Ubuntu Linux with VirtualBox and Wine. In 2008, I made a transition from Windows XP to Ubuntu (before that, I had Gentoo Linux and Ubuntu installed on separate machines for testing and learning). If I ever have to use Windows anymore, for any reason, I use it virtually, using VirtualBox. I also have Wine installed on Ubuntu for Windows-only software. My 12′ PowerBook is used only occasionally. This setup works very well for me.

Music

La Monnaie production of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck. A fantastic performance, this is ageless stuff.

Work

At work, 2008 was an interesting year. I had the pleasure to work for three different employers, participating in various projects, learning plenty of new things about web industry. Looking forward to learning and contributing even more this year!

Extras

I don’t have so much time to write long posts anymore, so lately I’ve been concentrating more on micro-blogging instead, posting short random thoughts, mainly on Twitter. I have continued uploading photos to Flickr, and checked microformats, JavaScript libraries (mainly JQuery), and more.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading and Happy New Year 2009! See you in cyberspace.

But it’s never easy – not even with Ubuntu. I tried to configure ING Home’Bank application to access my bank account, and after a couple of hours I was ready to give up, until I found out other people had problems with it too. The good thing is that the community is always there to share the problems and to help.

I also bought a new camera, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18, and an mp3 player, Cowon iAudio7. I’m very happy with both of them: if you need an easy to carry SLR-like bridge camera (with 18 times optical zoom!) that takes good photos, this is what you need. As for the mp3 player, an 8 Gb iAudio7 is cheaper than iPod Nano, and it supports the file formats I need (namely OGG, FLAC, and mp3, of course).

In fact, it’s much more relaxing to take photos and listen to music than writing to blog (this is my third post this year) ;-)

As a former Gentoo Linux user and current Ubuntu enthusiast, I have to say that I’m quite thrilled with latest developments in desktop Linux. One thing is for sure: I won’t touch Windows Vista if I have a choice.

See a Wired review on Ubuntu, and go on, download and install Ubuntu — it’s very easy, and free. You probably won’t look back.

Two years ago, a friend recommended Gentoo Linux for people who want to learn about Linux (as opposed to just using it). So I installed it the hard way, from source — only to prove myself I could do it. It took me hours and days. After that first experience, I have installed Gentoo Linux 3–4 times. During these last two years I’ve used the system 10–15 times. It’s a fantastic distribution which you can optimise and customise as much as you want. The problem is I don’t have time to do that. Although the Gentoo handbook is a great resource, simple things are not always easy on Linux.

Then I discovered Ubuntu Linux. It took me 30 minutes to install it, and another 30 minutes to quickly check the basic settings. Everything works out of the box, even a USB stick which never worked for me on Gentoo Linux. As I said, I don’t have too much time on my hands. With Ubuntu Linux, I can instantly start using the system, and then *if* I have time, I have the possibility to learn more about the inner depths of this great operating system called Linux.

I’m seriously considering dropping Windows altogether and keeping only my 12-inch PowerBook G4 and Ubuntu Linux desktop. Secondly, I miss the sun which is why I’m considering moving to Southern Europe (half-kidding). How could we encourage people in Belgium — and all around the globe — to use open source software, not only in public sector, communities and SMEs?

If you live in Belgium, start here. Otherwise, start here.