Mark Embling

Recently I was looking into making HTML 5 a little smaller. I found that not only can you make all the usual tweaks to save space such as removing any instances of div overload and keeping class names and IDs small, you can actually remove entire chunks of HTML which isn't technically required.

The use of tagging on websites seems to be something which has gradually become mainstream in recent years, particularly since the advent of 'web 2.0', where it became very widely used. I thought I'd explore this phenomenon, as well as discussing the implications, advantages and disadvantages of tagging and tag clouds and exploring how various different sites have approached it.

In December I posted about MongoDB and using it within .NET applications. I had always intended to post one (or more) follow-up posts but various things conspired against me causing it never to happen. Well, now that time is over and I thought it was about time I explored another MongoDB .NET driver.

This weekend I visited Farnborough Air Show for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed it. It covered quite a large area and had lots of static aircraft to look at and displays throughout the entire afternoon - well worth a day's visit despite it being extremely busy.

Document databases are quite a hot topic at the moment, what with the release of RavenDB and continued presence and interest surrounding MongoDB and CouchDB. However, I've pretty much settled on MongoDB as my document database of choice, despite the promise (and actual goodness) of RavenDB.

Over the last weekend (10-11 April 2010), I attended Barcamp Bournemouth 2. Barcamp describes itself as a "free self-organising un-conference for anyone interested in the digital and online world" and having attended my first, I thought I'd share some thoughts and highlights of the event.