Communication without complication

Using CODA to keep track of your social world...

Here's a PHP script which will give you your Twitter feed in CML, so you can just assign it to a CODA display. If you want to track more esoteric things, like the raising and lowering of Tower Bridge or the movements of the Isle of Wight ferry, you may prefer to create a separate Twitter account just for your CODA screen rather than mixing them in with your normal friends!

The <div> tag in CML now has three new features which can make your screen layouts more attractive.

translucent backgrounds

You can set the backgroundOpacity attribute to make semi-transparent overlays

rounded corners

The cornerRadius attribute lets you be a bit less square

vertical gradients

Divs can change colour from top to bottom using the backgroundGradientColors attribute.

If you want to add an interesting background to your CML-based displays, you can create an image in another package - say, Keynote, Photoshop or Powerpoint - and specify a full-screen div containing that image before overwriting it with your hand-tweaked or code-generated CML content.

The relevant CML used for this example is...

It's easy to create your own CML files, save them on a web server and assign them to a screen. But don't forget that they can be dynamically generated by a piece of software.

Here, for example, is a simple PHP script which you can put on a Linux-based web server and it will show you the current load on that server.